Hikers in California find human skeletal remains near South Yuba River
Authorities spent most of Wednesday carefully retrieving human remains found by hikers in rugged terrain along the South Yuba River near Highway 49 in Nevada County.
Three hikers found the remains of an unidentified person Tuesday afternoon near the South Yuba Fork Bridge in Nevada City, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday afternoon in a news release.
The hikers had cut their own trail in the brush and ventured through the area. Sheriff’s officials said the hikers spotted what appeared to be a human skull and immediately trekked to the bridge to use an installed emergency phone to call 911. There’s little to no cell phone reception in the area.
Sheriff’s deputies met with the hikers Tuesday at the bridge. One of the hikers led the deputies through the trail to where the skull was spotted. Sheriff’s officials said the deputies confirmed it was a human skull and found additional skeletal remains.
The Sheriff’s Office, along with its Search and Rescue team, California State Parks and the Anthropology Department at California State University, Chico, returned to the area Wednesday to carefully extract the human remains and evidence to examine.
Sheriff’s officials said the Chico State Anthropology Department — examining evidence collected at the scene and using DNA analysis — will work to determine the gender, race, stature, age and offer insight into the cause and manner of death of the unidentified person found.
The Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation into this person’s death at the request of California State Parks.
