CLAY COUNTY, Fla. -- Investigators with the Clay County Sheriff's Office are out searching once again in the marsh area near a popular Fleming Island shopping center. They are trying to figure out who the bones found in the marsh area yesterday belong to, how long they've been here, and how they got here in the first place.
A local teen made a shocking discovery yesterday afternoon. He took a shortcut through the marsh area behind the shopping center off East West Parkway and found scattered pieces of a skeleton. Police say its so decomposed it could take some time to identify the body and determine its age and sex.
Investigators told Action News today they believe what they found is an adult human skull. They say they're at a stand-still on identification. Even with a dental record search, they need someone to compare it to.
Only part of the skeleton has been found. Investigators have about 10 acres, plus the woods behind this marsh area to search for the remainder of the skeleton. And according to investigators the skull was found in an area that used to be filled with water and until recently was rural, so the remains could be pretty wide-spread.
Sgt. Marty Cotchaleoeitch with the Clay County Sheriff's robbery & homicide unit says, "We're going to continue what we're doing. The cadaver dogs are working now we've got about 30 detectives that we've had out here all day doing grid searches and well be out here probably at least through tomorrow."
The Clay County Sheriff's Office is thumbing through multiple missing persons files in the surrounding area to see if the skeleton found, could be a match.
Sgt. Marty Cotchaleoeitch says they aren't treating this as a homicide investigation. He says it's too soon to tell. But he says the skull they found didn't seem to have signs of blunt force trauma.
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