A human skeleton was found Sunday afternoon in a pine-tree forest just off Millhopper Road.
At about 4:45 p.m. Sunday, deputies with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the man who found the full skeleton, at which point they began an investigation, said Art Forgey, spokesman for the office.
News of the investigation was released Monday afternoon in a press release.
The skeleton’s age, sex and cause of death remain unknown, Forgey said.
Several pieces of evidence were found at the scene, but that evidence was not disclosed. On Monday, deputies scanned through missing-person files in search of potential leads, Forgey said.
“They will also then expand that toward the state, around the nation, until we get some type of ID,” he said.
Deputies are working with the District 8 Medical Examiner’s Office and UF’s C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory, according to the release.
While yellow tape still lined the dead-end road, Forgey said the scene would be cleared by Monday night.
“The remains will be loaded up and taken to the medical examiner’s office,” he said.
On the other side of the thick forest, in a quiet neighborhood, Robert Malinowski was walking his golden retriever when he first heard the news Monday.
Malinowski, a 59-year-old visual arts professor at Santa Fe College, said he wondered what the cause of death could be.
“It could have been a hunting accident; it could have been who knows,” he said.
Malinowski said his mother lives next door to the man who discovered the skeleton. He could not be immediately reached for comment.
Malinowski, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 15 years, said news like this will likely stir up homeowners in the area.
“The word will probably get out now around the neighborhood,” he said.
Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo.
Pictured is the crime scene where a human skeleton was found Jan. 24, 2016, in a pine-tree forest just off Millhopper Road.
