Hunter saw a round white object then made a grisly discovery, SC sheriff’s office says
Some hunters in South Carolina recently made a “sobering” discovery when they found a human skull, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said Monday night. Now an investigation is underway to identify the person who died.
The skull was found on Dec. 21, 2023 in the area near St. Paul’s Church Road and Economy Lane in Sumter, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
One of the hunters saw a round white object that appeared to be a human skull, according to the release.
“It is very sobering to discover human remains,” Sheriff Anthony Dennis said in the release.
The hunters called the sheriff’s office, and deputies secured the area before crime scene investigators carefully removed the skull and delivered it to the Sumter County Coroner’s Office, according to the release.
No other human remains were found in the area, the sheriff’s office said.
A forensic exam showed that the skull belonged to a Black person who was more than 35 years old, according to the release. The sheriff’s office said experts believe the skull is more than a decade old, but there was no word on a possible cause or time of death.
A review of the missing persons in Sumter County showed that no one matched the criteria of the skull, according to the release.
Anyone with information that could help investigators identify the person are asked to call the sheriff’s office at 803-436-2000, CrimeStoppers at 888-CRIME-SC or submit an online tip.
“The person to whom the skull belongs deserves respect and our very best efforts to identify them and bring them justice,” Dennis said.
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This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 9:21 AM with the headline "Hunter saw a round white object then made a grisly discovery, SC sheriff’s office says."
