MISSOULA — The Missoula Police Department is continuing to investigate the discovery of human remains from over the weekend.
An employee at the Missoula sewage treatment plant discovered human remains on the premises while he was walking around the perimeter at around 10:40 a.m. on Saturday
The Missoula Police Department along with other law enforcement then responded to the scene and are now conducting an investigation.
The body had decomposed to the point that Missoula Police think that it had been there for some time, but have not definitive timetable at this point.
The Missoula County Sheriffs Office and coroner assisted in collecting the remains that where then transported the remains to the Missoula State Crime Lab for analysis.
MPD says that the body was so decomposed they couldn’t tell whether it was male or female and are unsure if it is connected to any ongoing cases.
"The priority right now is identifying who this person was. Once we do that we can start to work backwards a little bit and try to find out how this person actually ended up there, what was going on in this person's life before they passed away," Missoula Police Department spokesman Sgt. Travis Welsh said.
"So, there are a lot of things happening right now before we can determine like I said if a crime had occurred or whether or not this was an actual death," he added.
The area surrounding the sewage plant is well-known to be the home of transient camps.
The case remains under investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact the Missoula Police Department at (406) 552-6299 or Crime Stoppers at (406) 721-4444.
