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Paul and Karen Dupaix have lived in their circa 1910 Tooele home with their children for the past eight years, but rarely go into the attic.

The family was shocked when workers putting on a new roof Monday made a grisly discovery: a human skull between a wall and the point of the roof where the eaves meet.

"That is the last thing we expected to find," said Karen Dupaix.

Tooele Police Lt. Jorge Cholico said investigators are now trying to contact surviving family members of the late Rex Stutznegger, known as one of Tooele's first dentists, and his wife, Helen. The couple were the previous owners and had lived in the home for about 65 years, Karen Dupaix said.

While police said the skull had some hair and tissue attached, it was missing the jaw. The skull is small, but police are unsure whether it belonged to a child or a small adult. The skull will now go to the Utah Department of State Antiquities and Archaeology to be identified,

Authorities used cadaver dogs and searched the property for more remains, but nothing was found.

Attempts by The Tribune to reach survivors of Rex and Helen Stutznegger were unsuccessful Tuesday. The Stutzneggers do not appear to have been the original owners of the home. Census records show the late Rex Stutznegger living in Salt Lake City with his parents in 1920 and in 1930.

Dupaix said that she and her husband were fixing the roof because they wanted to sell the home to move closer to her husband's new job in Lehi and that she hopes the attention will not deter people from buying the home near 200 West and 100 South.

"We know there is nothing in the attic now that is old and scary," Dupaix said. "We don't feel we need to leave because it's freaky or anything. We've liked this house."