Police say it will take the work of a medical examiner to glean specifics about the human remains found in northwest Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon.
Police were called Tuesday morning to the 600 block of John Street after a resident reported his dog had brought the bones into the yard, Officer Kim Jones with Atlanta police said. An investigator from the ME’s office soon determined that the leg bones were from a human.
That initial discovery sparked an Atlanta police investigation, resulting in the discovery of more human remains. Atlanta police spokesman Sgt. Greg Lyon said the remains found belong to one body and are believed to be related to the bones found earlier.
Lt. Charles Hampton, homicide commander for Atlanta police, said the remains were found behind a house around 3:45 p.m. by cadaver dogs that had started searching nearly two hours earlier. He said investigators thus far do not know how long the remains had been there, but it so far appears that there was no trauma or foul play associated with them.
“Had we not found these initial bones out here, we wouldn’t even be out here right now to find the current remains that we’ve located this afternoon,” Hampton said. “We’re glad we did find the initial bones, and hopefully we can bring some type of closure to the family.”
Investigators are unsure about the race or sex of the deceased individual, Hampton said. Some clothing was found near the remains, but he did not give specifics of what investigators found.
Hampton said the next step is to get a better description from the medical examiner’s office. Authorities then will check records to see if the description matches any missing persons.
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