Home renovation turns grisly as foot, shin seen sticking out of ground, Michigan cops say
As a construction crew worked to prepare an unoccupied home for residents, they noticed damage on the side of the garage, which led them to a grim discovery in Michigan, police said.
Toward the back of the Detroit home, workers stumbled upon a human foot and shin sticking out of a “shallow grave” on Jan. 6, Detroit Police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald said in a news conference shared by WDIV.
The human remains, believed to be a person “small in stature,” were wrapped in what police said is a burlap sack or blanket, Detroit Police Deputy Chief Franklin Hayes said in a news conference shared by WXYZ.
Body parts seen poking out of the ground were not fully decomposed, Hayes said. He said investigators do not know how long the remains had been on the property.
The home had been unoccupied since November as the new homeowners hired crews to renovate the property to be rented out, Fitzgerald said.
Overnight, crews were set to dig through the frozen ground to retrieve the buried remains, Fitzgerald said. He added that the space where the body was found was too small to fit an excavator.
Police said the FBI, among other local and federal departments, are working to identify the body, but the investigation could be lengthy. The sex, age and identity of the body found is not known
Hayes says this discovery is being treated as a criminal investigation.
This story was originally published January 7, 2025 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Home renovation turns grisly as foot, shin seen sticking out of ground, Michigan cops say."
