University of Colorado professors on May 19 will exhume a 127-year-old grave at Oak Hill Cemetery in hopes of solving the mystery of who is buried in it.

Marianne Wesson, a law professor, and Dennis Van Gerven, an anthropology professor, hope to determine whether the grave holds the body of John Hillmon or Frederick A. Walters – a controversy that led to the creation of an important piece of federal evidence law in the late 1800s.

Lawrence city staff will remove the top layers of soil, and Van Gerven and assistants then will begin excavating by hand. The remains will be transported to Kansas University for analysis and reburied May 21.