A hunter walking through the woods off Highway 515 in Pickens County stumbled onto something no one expects to find on a routine outing: partial human skeletal remains. The discovery, made this week near Piedmont Mountainside Hospital, has launched a multi-day search effort involving local detectives, a K9 search and rescue team, and state forensic investigators who are now trying to figure out who the remains belong to and how they ended up there.
According to Atlanta News First, the hunter reported finding the partial remains on Wednesday, prompting detectives to secure the scene and search the surrounding area. Pickens County investigators have said they are working to identify the remains, which were found in a wooded area off the busy north Georgia highway.
Search Team Returns With K9 Unit
The investigation did not end with the initial report. Investigators returned Saturday with Alpha Team K9 Search and Rescue and recovered more remains believed to be connected to the original discovery near the hospital, the outlet's report notes. The renewed search suggests the scene is larger or more complex than what was first found earlier in the week.
As WSB-TV also reported on the discovery, the wooded stretch near Piedmont Mountainside Hospital has become the center of an active investigation spanning several days, with searchers working to recover whatever remains might still be in the area.
State Crime Lab Will Help With Identification
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will assist with processing the scene, per the same account from Atlanta News First. The state agency is also expected to conduct forensic testing aimed at identifying the person and determining a possible cause of death.
The GBI maintains statewide databases for cases exactly like this one, including its unidentified remains and missing persons case listings, which the agency uses to help match unidentified remains found across Georgia with open missing-person reports. No information connecting this discovery to any specific missing-person case has been released.
For now, the identity of the person found off Highway 515, and the circumstances that led to their remains being left in the woods near Piedmont Mountainside Hospital, remain unknown. Investigators have not released a timeline for when forensic testing might yield results.
