A Chehalis Police Department squad car sits in the vacant lot adjacent to where a dead body was found on Feb. 23 off of Kresky Avenue in Chehalis.
Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said his office has a lead on a possible identity of skeletal remains found in a tree line in Chehalis Monday.
McLeod is working to contact next of kin to verify the identity of the female remains. At this time it is unlikely that the remains are of any known missing people in Lewis County.
The remains are being transported to the King County Medical Examiner’s office to determine age, race and other identifying factors as well as possibly the cause of death.
Chehalis Police said in a press release Tuesday morning that there is no evidence of foul play.
It is unknown how long the remains have been in the tree line along Kresky Avenue across from the Yard Birds Mall.
The remains were reported at about 12:40 p.m. Monday by surveyors working in the area.
Late Tuesday morning update:
Human remains found in Chehalis Monday show no “obvious signs of foul play,” according to a press release from the Chehalis Police Department.
Chehalis detectives, the Lewis County Coroner’s Office and a forensic anthropologist arrived at the scene in the 2200 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue Tuesday morning. They will be collecting evidence and removing the remains.
It is unknown how long the process will take, the release states.
Personal belongings were found near the victim, but positive identification has yet to be made.
The cause of death is unknown.
The remains were found by a survey crew about ¼ of a mile east of the roadway. Officers hiked to the scene Monday and confirmed the remains were human.
(The original story is below)
Human remains have been found in the tree line above an excavation site across from Yard Birds Mall, along Kresky Avenue in Chehalis.
Chehalis police received the report at about 12:40 p.m. Monday.
Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said he has been informed about the human remains, and his staff plans to recover them for today. It’s unclear how long the remains were at the spot at which they were found.
Chehalis police spokesperson Linda Bailey said she didn’t have more information to release Tuesday morning.
Brian Evans, who was running an excavator on the site Monday, told The Chronicle some surveyors working on the site found the remains. He thinks the deceased was likely a transient.
He said he used to see more of them living up there, but he last saw a transient in the area about two weeks ago.
