KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Deputies with the Loudon County Sheriff's Office are investigating human remains that were found on a Lenoir City property, according to the agency.
The home is located in the 2800 block of Martel Road. The remains were found in an old collapsed shed on the property, LCSO said.
"It appears at this time that the remains are very old archeological artifacts that were kept from the previous owner," LCSO said.
According to Sheriff Jimmy Davis, the discovery happened after the property owners started doing some remodeling work and began clearing old buildings. The owners found an old shed filled with antiques and decided to send out an online invitation for people to buy some of the items that were in there.
Davis said a Blount County couple took home a bucket from the shed, and when they got home opened it and discovered it was filled with what appeared to be a human jawbone, several teeth, some pottery and some seashells. The couple called the Blount County Sheriff's Office, who notified LCSO.
Deputies sent the jawbone and teeth to the University of Tennessee for investigation, who told them it appeared to be human remains.
LCSO arrived at the home on Martel Road and got the owner's consent to search the property. Investigators said they searched underneath the shed debris and found an additional piece of a jaw bone on an exposed piece of floor. Crews began taking apart the collapsed wood shed to conduct a thorough search.
Davis said they do not suspect foul play at the moment. Investigators are unsure how old the bones are and are trying to gather some history on the previous property owners to figure out where they came from.
"All we know is that they are human and we're just gonna do some more checking and check in with the guys with UT and see what they got," Davis said.
The sheriff said the shed had been pushed over about a week ago.
"An excavation is a good way to put it. We're going through kind of like an archeological dig, where we have two trained from the FBI Forensic Academy. We have a crime scene team we're putting together," he said. "It's also used as a teaching tool, kind of showing how we do it."
