Human skeletal remains were discovered Saturday morning in a wooded area near Yopp Road and U.S. 17 in Jacksonville, North Carolina, after a person mowing grass came across what appeared to be a skeleton. Jacksonville police officers responded to the scene around 8:52 a.m., and investigators say they now have a potential identification, though they are withholding the person's name until the State Medical Examiner's Office can confirm it.
According to wcti12.com, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation assisted Jacksonville police in processing the scene after officers located the remains. The outlet reports the case remains active and ongoing, with no further details released about how the remains were found or their condition. WITN was among the outlets that first reported police responding to the wooded stretch near the busy highway corridor.
Tip Line Open as Investigation Continues
Anyone with information is asked to contact Jacksonville Police Detective R. Feller at 910-938-6410 or by email at [email protected]. Tipsters can also reach Crime Stoppers anonymously at 910-938-3273, or by texting TIP4CSJAX followed by their message to 274637. Crime Stoppers is offering cash rewards of up to $5,000 for information determined valuable to law enforcement, per the same account.
The discovery near one of Jacksonville's major travel corridors echoes other recent cases across the state. In June, skeletal remains were found in a stormwater drainage area near Carolina Avenue, also known as U.S. 17 Business, in Washington, North Carolina, according to the Charlotte Observer. Investigators there believed the remains had been at the site for an extended period based on their condition, and within days they were preliminarily identified as 66-year-old Washington resident Patrick Michael Kincade, who had not been reported missing. His next of kin was later notified, the newspaper reported.
Unidentified Remains Cases Linger Across North Carolina
North Carolina has dozens of long-unsolved cases involving unidentified remains. A map maintained by WRAL tracks 115 unidentified people whose remains have been found across the state, illustrating how often such discoveries go unresolved for years, even decades.
One such case saw resolution earlier this year. The Columbia County Sheriff's Office announced on May 6 that skeletal remains found nearly 50 years earlier along Interstate 75 had finally been identified, according to News4JAX. Investigators had submitted a partial DNA profile to Othram, a private forensic genealogy laboratory, which helped identify genetic relatives; a family member's DNA sample ultimately confirmed the remains belonged to Lonny Reeves. Officials determined his death appeared to stem from natural causes rather than foul play, the station reported.
In Jacksonville, no such details about cause or manner of death have been released, and investigators have not said how long the remains found near Yopp Road may have been there. For now, police are treating the case as active and ongoing while they await word from the medical examiner's office on the identification they believe they already have.
