Inmate finds backpack containing a human skull belonging to a woman while on clean-up duty next to an interstate in Oregon
- A human skull belonging to a woman was found inside a backpack along Interstate 5 in Marion County, 75 miles south of Portland
- An inmate on clean up duty with the Department of Corrections made the horrifying discovery while working with a clean-up crew on Wednesday
- Oregon State Police said it believes the skull was a female in her 30s or 40s
- The skull was taken to the State Medical Examiner’s office in the hopes of identifying the victim
- This is not the first human skull found in Oregon in recent years
The gruesome discovery of a human skull belonging to a woman was found inside a backpack along an interstate highway in Oregon with police on the hunt for clues.
An inmate on clean up duty with the Department of Corrections made the horrifying discovery while working with a clean-up crew on Wednesday.
The small backpack appeared ‘suspicious’ the inmate said as it sat idle near Interstate 5 in Marion County, about 75 miles south of Portland.
The thoroughfare is a major north–south route that stretches from the Mexican border at the San Ysidro crossing to the Canadian border near Blaine, Washington.
Oregon State Police said it believes the skull was a female in her 30s or 40s but said the bone structure did not have any ‘identifiable features,’ CBS News reported.
The skull was taken to the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s office in the hopes of identifying the victim.
Police have not released any other information about the skull at this time.
The small backpack appeared ‘suspicious’ the inmate said as it sat idle near Interstate 5 in Marion County, about 75 miles south of Portland
A map where the human skull was found along Interstate 5 in Marion County. Interstate 5 is a major north–south route stretches from the Mexican border at the San Ysidro crossing to the Canadian border near Blaine, Washington
This is not the first human skull found in Oregon in recent years
In June 2018, a human skull was discovered alongside an Oregon highway when a highway crew was conducting maintenance.
The skull was found along Interstate 5 in Roseburg, but no other remains were found.
In 2019, DNA testing showed that the skull was later identified to be 44-year-old Scott Evenson, an Oregon man, who went missing in 2016.
Everson had lived in Myrtle Creek nearly 200 miles south of Portland.
He was listed as a missing person on Facebook, but his disappearance was never reported to the police, The Oregonian reported.
In 2019, DNA testing showed that the skull was later identified to be 44-year-old Scott Evenson, an Oregon man (pictured), who went missing in 2016
In January, fifteen-year-old Tom Read found a human skull at a river in Dorset, England but had no idea at the time that what he stumbled upon was an ancient artifact that was 1,400 years old.
The teen made the discovery while wading through the River Stour in the rural village of Sturminster Marshall.
The young treasure hunter initially thought he had retrieved a boot, until it was revealed it was actually a human frontal bone skull fragment that dates back to the early Anglo-Saxon period between 450-600AD.
Historians were planning to put the skull on display at the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester.