ID sought for bones discovered near I-565

From staff, wire reports

May 07, 2008 10:29 pm

— Huntsville Police investigators have sent human remains found just off Interstate 565 in a Huntsville-annexed portion of Limestone County to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences to possibly learn identity and cause of death.
Police spokesman Wendell Johnson said city contractors surveying near the five-mile marker discovered bones late afternoon Tuesday.
“They found the bones on the north side of the highway in some woods,” Johnson said. “They do appear to be human remains. We have no idea how long they’ve been there.
Johnson said because of the extent of decomposition it was impossible to tell the age or gender of the person.
“There were bones and some flesh,” he said. “But it wasn’t like they could make a photo and identify a corpse.”
Johnson said once investigators learn more from pathologists, they will compare the information with any local or regional missing-person files.
Police Captain Lewis Morris said contractors surveying a newly annexed portion of Limestone County found the remains about a mile from the Limestone-Madison county line. The bones were in dense vegetation about 200 yards from the road, Morris said.