Seattle police are investigating after “several bags” of human remains were found on a beach Friday, authorities said.
Officers responded to a call of a suspicious bag on the shoreline of Elliot Bay in West Seattle, police said in a statement. Police searched the area and found a second bag floating in the water nearby.
“There was a police boat and an inflatable boat and they had a hook and they took black plastic bags out,” Steven Buty, who lives nearby, told KOMO News. “I saw them take two bags.”
Once authorities determined the bags held human remains, police said detectives were called to the scene to start their investigation.
It was unclear if the remains were male or female, or if they belonged to more than one person. Police have not said whether the bags were dumped on the beach or were brought in by the tide.
Harbor Patrol is assisting in the investigation, and detectives are working with the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, the statement said.