CLEVELAND — Police in Cleveland said a worker clearing out a vacant home on the city’s east side discovered suspected human remains on Friday.
The discovery occurred around 12:15 p.m. on East 142nd Street near Bartlett.
A neighbor, who asked not to be identified out of concern for her safety, said a worker knocked on her door and asked her to come with him to the home’s garage.
She said that once inside, the worker showed her a garbage bag containing bones.
Police spent hours Friday taping off the area as investigators searched for clues behind the house and inside a dumpster in the driveway.
That dumpster was later loaded onto a truck and hauled away with a police car following it.
“I look at that house every day, and I never thought anything would be in the garage,” said Douglas Harper as he sat on his front steps across from the home.
Harper said the house had sat empty for years and changed hands multiple times.
County records show new owners purchased it earlier this month.
Neighbors said workers started cleaning it out this week.
Bert Roberts, who lives across from the home, said neighbors had complained to the city about illegal dumping there a few years ago.
He said that about two or three years ago, neighbors also noticed a smell coming from the house.
“It was like, ‘What is that stinking like that?'” said Roberts. “Must be something dead. Well, evidently it was.”
Along with the dumpster, officers were also seen carrying bags of evidence from the scene Friday afternoon.
Cleveland police said the medical examiner’s office will test the remains to determine whether they are human.
The Cleveland Police Homicide Unit has been notified and will work with the medical examiner’s office to investigate.
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