GIG HARBOR, Wash. — Fragments of a human skeleton were laid out on plastic sheeting on the lawn of a Gig Harbor home as investigators worked to determine the identity of a person found buried at a construction site.
Workers building a house on Goodman Drive on the harbor's east side unearthed the bones Thursday. An excavator operator digging between the new house and an existing home noticed the remains on Thursday and notified the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.
Angela Sisney watched as the skeleton was slowly reassembled on her lawn.
"It's been interesting," said Sisney, who lives next door to the home under construction. "I was telling my friend that I didn't expect to see bones on my bulkhead when I woke up yesterday morning."
Sisney said the discovery doesn't bother her, because investigators believe the remains were buried several decades ago.
"People did different things way back when. From what I'm hearing, it's not anything recent that we need to worry about," Sisney said.
Detectives and investigators from the Pierce and King county medical examiners' offices sifted through shovelfuls of dirt trying to assemble as complete a skeleton as possible. Small bits of clothing and the remains of what appears to be a very old leather shoe have also been found.
So far, the sex, race and cause of death of the person buried there aren't known.
Investigators say it could take weeks to determine how long the remains have been in the ground.
Another view of bones found in Gig Harbor. Investigators trying to figure out who and how they got here pic.twitter.com/O7FkhEvPyy
— Kevin McCarty (@KevinKIRO7) August 26, 2016
Cox Media Group
