Workers at a Tennessee Department of Transportation found what turned out to be a desiccated human heart in a salt pile last Thursday.
via People:
The discovery was made Thursday as workers were preparing for bad weather at a facility in McEwen, reported ABC affiliate WATN.
The workers were making brine. As they went to get more salt from the barn, they found what they believed was a weirdly-shaped rock, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told CBS affiliate WDBJ.
The rock turned out to be a heart that had been there for a while and was dehydrated from the salt, Davis said.
PEOPLE’s attempts to speak with Davis on Monday were unsuccessful.
McEwen is a city in Humphreys County in the northwest part of the state.
The Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are both investigating, according to KATV.
“An initial examination of the heart determined that it was that of an adult male. Additional DNA testing will be performed to try to determine its origin,” the Tennessee Bureau said in a statement to the news outlet.
Davis said somebody knows where the heart came from.
Sheriff’s deputies spent most of Friday searching through other salt piles, but did not find anything, WBDJ reported.
“We’re just going to keep doing that until we feel really good that there’s no other remains here on the scene,” Davis said.
Davis said the Department of Transportation workers called police because they had an uneasy feeling.
“They did act out of suspicion and my hat’s off to them. You know, they got to thinking, and when they got that first inclination or doubt in their mind they made the right call,” Davis told WDBJ. “I’m very appreciative of that and hopefully when we can find the rest of the remains then the family, I hope, will be thankful for that as well.”
Davis, who has 32 years of law enforcement experience, said this is a strange case.
“I do have to say this is probably in the top five of most bizarre things that I’ve ever seen,” he said.
The rest of the body has to be nearby…right?
