Possible human remains have been discovered at the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Charleston, Tallahatchie County Sheriff Jimmy Fly noted in a statement he emailed to The Sun-Sentinel Tuesday afternoon.
"On Thursday, Feb. 29, the Tallahatchie County Sheriff's Office was informed that partial potential human remains had been located" there, Fly said.
"The remains were located in an area previously used to store evidence and court exhibits," he added. "The Sheriff's Office has been working with multiple state and federal agencies to assist in determining the source of the remains."
Fly said his office "is currently investigating all past cases that could be linked to the remains. Further information will be available as the investigation progresses."
The sheriff said Tallahatchie County Coroner Anthony Hawkins took possession of the remains to transport them to the state medical examiner's office at the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory in Pearl. Cases in the state medical examiner's office have been chronically backlogged in recent years, as numerous media outlets have reported.
Fly said there is no estimated timetable for when the medical examiner's office might perform an analysis of the Tallahatchie remains.
Fly declined to discuss the nature of the remains, but another source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the remains included a skull and other skeletal fragments.
The remains reportedly were found in a second-floor office space on the northwest corner of the courthouse building.
In the past, that office has served multiple functions, including for many years being the office of late Circuit Judge Andrew Baker. It was recently used for court interviews and is now reportedly being converted for use as a storeroom for county election equipment. It reportedly was during the course of recent renovations that the discovery of the remains was made.
Fly said the district attorney's office and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are among the agencies involved in the investigation.
