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By DONALD MOTTERN | Staff Writer

HELENA – The Helena Police Department announced the discovery of skeletal remains in the backyard of a Helena home through an official press release posted over social media on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 16.

The discovery of the remains occurred on Saturday, Jan. 13. HPD said they were called to the 2800 block of Bridlewood Terrace in Helena when a resident was clearing an area of brush in his backyard. While managing the area, the homeowner discovered what he quickly determined to be a human skull.

The homeowner then called the Helena Police Department immediately after the discovery, and responding HPD officers quickly confirmed the skull to be human. Officers subsequently notified Helena’s Detective Bureau, who performed a secondary search of the area.

That search uncovered additional skeletal remains in the immediate area, which is believed, at this time, to be from the same individual.

“With the assistance of the Shelby County Major Crimes Task Force and the Shelby County Coroner’s Office, the remains were exhumed and are now at the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Montgomery for additional examination,” read the release from HPD.

While the human remains have not been verifiably identified, a previous resident of the home was reported missing in 2019 and detectives currently believe there to be a strong possibility that the remains could belong to that missing person.

As the situation stands, the Helena Police Department is awaiting results from the Department of Forensic Sciences examination before making additional comments as to the possible identity of the skeletal remains.

As the investigation is still ongoing, no further information into the incident has been released at this time.