Human remains found in Emmitsburg

(3/6) Skeletal remains were found on a wooded parcel of land between Route 15 and St. Anthony Road, just outside Emmitsburg.

“We’re handling this as a homicide until we find out differently,” said Captain Tim Clarke with the sheriff’s office.

On Feb. 29, realtor Jack Klingler, who declined to comment on the on-going investigation, discovered the bones while conducting a property survey and called 911 at 3:42 p.m. When deputies arrived on the scene, they determined the remains were possibly human and secured the area.

“We also had deputies securing the scene overnight,” Clarke said. “We knew about the body Friday, but because we were expecting bad weather, we waited until Saturday to investigate.”

From 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, about 10 crime scene technicians, detectives and deputies, worked the scene, sifting through soil and sweeping the area for potential clues or scattered bone fragments.

“Anytime you have a body that’s decomposed, there’s the possibility that small animals may have moved bones from the original site. You have to look beyond that location,” Clarke said.

Vigilant Hose Company firefighters assisted with the search, including Jim Click. Click said about 12 members of the company slowly walked in a straight line through brush, trees and thorn bushes looking for evidence.

“When someone found something, they’d yell ‘stop.’ Then nobody moved until the detective with us checked it out, marked it and said, ‘go,’” Click explained. “We weren’t looking for every can or bottle. We were looking for things like shoes or other bones.” Click said they didn’t find “a whole lot.”

A bone expert with the Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the bones were human.

An autopsy was performed on Mar. 3, but the results are pending and no information was available at press time, according to the medical examiner’s office.

What is known is that the “remains appear to have been at the location for a long period of time,” according to the Cpl. Jennifer Bailey, spokesperson for the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office. Bailey said Detective Jeff Norris attended the autopsy on Monday and was reviewing information, but that the identity of the victim was still unknown, as the “autopsy did not conclude that.”

“We’re way behind the eight ball at this point unless we can get an identification,” Clark said.

Ricci Frey, who lives on Hemler Road, often rides his four-wheeler through the wooded area where the remains were found and said he learned of the discovery when police came to talk to him.

“I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ We just cut that trail the last time it snowed and they found the body about a week later,” Frey said, pointing to a trail that ran beside the site where the remains were found. “For a while I really thought they had found the body on the trail and I had been running over it and dug something up.”

Frey said he couldn’t recollect seeing the remains or anything out of the ordinary prior to the discovery.

The property where the remains were found is for sale and according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, the 4.78 acres is owned by Michael Easton, who could not be reached for comment.