JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A woman, who News4JAX spoke with on Friday, said she found the human bone in the street while playing catch with her daughter on Jacksonville’s Northside, which led to police finding more remains in the backyard of a home.
A day after the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office uncovered the human remains, investigators told News4JAX that identifying those remains could take months, if not years.
And they’re not done digging.
JSO said it’s believed more bones from the same person are still buried in the backyard of the home on Lincrest Drive in the Harborview neighborhood.
It appears the remains have been there for a “long time,” according to Sgt. Steve Rudlaff.
According to JSO, this all started when a resident spotted what appeared to be a human bone lying on Lincrest Drive around 10 p.m. Wednesday.
“I went down to go get the ball and then I looked down and saw this bone,” she said. “I knew exactly what I was looking at, it was no doubt about it; it wasn’t a turkey leg or any other kind of bone.”
After the medical examiner’s office confirmed the bone was from a human leg, JSO began a search on Thursday, which led to the discovery of buried human remains wrapped in a carpet-like material in the backyard of the home, JSO said.
Investigators believe an animal dug up the leg bone and carried it to the street.
JSO obtained a search warrant to search the property and later was able to get in contact with the homeowner, who has not lived at the house for a long time. They have rented it out for a while.
Rudlaff said investigators need to get an understanding of who has been living in the house over the years.
They are also trying to get in touch with the construction company that had been doing work at the property to determine when they stopped working and how long they had been working.
“What happened has to be foul play because that’s not the way you dispose of a body and that’s the way you bury a body, a person’s remains so something criminal has definitely happened,” another neighbor said.
Anyone with information on this is urged to call 904-630-0500.