Homicide ruled for Plymouth man

Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE - An autopsy on a man found dead in woods in Jenkins Township on Thursday has been ruled a homicide.

Luzerne County Coroner John Corcoran is withholding the cause of death for Donald Skiff, 34, due to the on-going investigation and further testing.

"All of us are very, very sorry for the family and what they had to go through with waiting; we only wish it could have been sooner," Corcoran said.

Skiff had been missing since April 27 when he was last seen in Shickshinny where he was fishing. His burned out truck was found in Plymouth Township shortly after he was reported missing by his family.

His body was found by investigators at about 1:12 p.m. Thursday about 30 yards in the woods from Suscon Road in Jenkins Township.

"Everything that we gather in this investigation is important to us and we use that in making our determination," District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll said. "So the investigation is going to be continuing at this point; As the coroner said, the cause is pending further investigation. This is definitely a homicide."

Musto Carroll said she couldn't say when or where investigators believe Skiff was killed.

"I really can't comment at this point," she said. "I do want you to know we have been on this from the very beginning and we have been working on this day-in and day-out in trying to find the body.

"It's difficult to release information at this point because we are still investigating; anything we put out there, we don't want to compromise what we're working on," Musto Carroll said.