Authorities have found what they believe to be a human skull in the backyard of a Lowndes County residence.
The resident of an Armistad Road home off Highway 69 spotted what he thought at first was a faded old basketball in his backyard Tuesday night. A closer inspection revealed it was actually a skull, and he called 911.
Deputies responded to the call and found multiple bones, including the skull.
“I’m pretty confident in saying the bones we recovered are going to be animal bones, but this is definitely going to be a human skull, no doubt about that,” LCSO Capt. Greg Wright said.
However Wright said authorities are far from declaring the incident a homicide investigation. He said the skull appears to be very old and doesn’t seem to have signs of traumatic injury.
Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant, who is taking the skull to the Mississippi Forensics Center in Jackson today, also said there was no trauma to the skull. As to the age, gender and other information on the bone, he didn’t have any answers.
“It appears it has been buried some time,” he said. “You can’t really age it. It’s nothing that’s real recent.
“I really hope to have a gender at least today or tomorrow at the very least,” he added.
Deputies are checking the woods and other nearby areas for possible cemeteries where the skull may have come from, Wright said. He added investigators believe the homeowner’s dogs found the skull in the woods nearby and brought it to the house, along with the other bones.
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