Bones were found during a litter pickup in North Carolina on Sunday, but investigators have now determined that they were not human.
The Plastic Ocean Project, a Wilmington environmental protection non-profit, was conducting its first litter cleanup for “Adopt-A-Highway” on U.S. 421 when two people found the bones, scattered near and inside a carry-on sized suitcase.
WWAY TV in Wilmington is reporting that a New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office crime scene investigator responded and the bones were examined by a UNCW forensic doctor – who determined they belonged to a deer.
Officials with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office said that calling them to the scene was the right move.
Volunteers gathered nearly 500 pounds of trash from the roadside during the three-hour highway clean-up project.