NEED TO KNOW
- The Metro Nashville Police Department was alerted to “skeletal remains” in a wooded area off Dickerson Pike on Friday, Aug. 22
- Police located a human skull around 100 feet away from the “severely decomposed” remains
- An investigation has been launched to determine the identity of the victim and the circumstances of how they got there
A human skull has been found not far from where a woman discovered a headless body in Nashville.
At around 10:30 a.m. local time on Friday, Aug. 22, police responded to a call from a woman who came across a “severely decomposed grouping of skeletal remains” in a wooded area behind a McDonald’s in Dickerson Pike, the Metro Nashville Police Department announced in a press conference, per Fox Nashville.
Homicide Unit detectives dispatched to the scene found a human skull that was “in a deep state of decomposition” around 100 feet away from the remains, closer to the McDonald’s parking lot, police spokesperson Brooke Reese said in the press conference.
“It is unclear at this point who this person is, how this person got there, so those circumstances are under investigation at this time,” Reese said. “Homicide Unit detectives as well as our CSI team are out here trying to work through those details.”
Authorities are now trying to determine the identity of the victim and how long they were at the location.
It is not yet known if the human remains and skull belong to the same person, Reese stated.
“It doesn’t appear that anyone is living in the woods” where the remains were discovered, Reese said in the press conference, while adding that it’s also unclear from the decomposed state of the remains how the body arrived at the location.
“Given the heat, the woods and the nature of how this person was found, it’s extremely difficult for officers to see and for our CSI team to photograph and capture,” the police spokesperson said.
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No weapons were found at the location, per the police press conference.
“It’s pretty gory. That’s crazy. I don’t even know what to say,” local worker Tom Keesee told local outlet WSMV following the discovery. “We live in a big city. I don’t want to say killings are normal, but a headless body, that’s the next level.”
The Metro Nashville Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, Aug. 24.
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