No bones about it

KELLOGG – A potentially serious situation ended on a bit of a lighthearted note Sunday morning after an Idaho State Police forensics team wrapped up a quick investigation of some ‘human’ bones found in Uptown Kellogg.

The situation kicked off Saturday evening when a Kellogg couple stumbled across what appeared to be human remains while walking their dog on the twice-burned hillside behind Upper Third Street.

The couple contacted the Kellogg Police Department not long after the discovery and were told that they were most likely wildlife remains.

Unsatisfied with that answer, the couple then reached out to Shoshone County Sheriff Mike Gunderson, who decided to take a closer look.

Following a visual inspection of the remains Saturday night, local law enforcement decided to sit on the scene until morning.

Officers with the KPD stood watch throughout the night, making sure no one could potentially tamper with the remains as they awaited a specialized ISP forensics team to arrive the next day.

The mood was tense on Sunday morning, as members of the SCSO and KPD awaited the team.

This apprehension quickly went away after they and the forensics team got to handle the ‘remains.’

While the bones certainly had the appearance and consistency of a human, their weight and modifications easily gave them away to be from a human skeleton model.

“When they got there and looked at them, they all (the bones) had the holes in them for the wires,” Sheriff Gunderson said. “All the holes were identical on each piece. It was pretty clear once you picked them up and manipulated them. They didn't even have the density of a real bone, but they looked real and had the same consistency of bone.”

Upon further investigation of the scene, law enforcement found a burn pile next to the house that the residents just moved into that had a pirate hook in it, so it’s likely that the bones were part of a model that was used as Halloween prop.

It was apparent based on the weathered look of the bones that they had been on the hillside for some time. This also made it difficult initially to determine what they were based solely on visual examination.

To confirm the authenticity of the bones (or lack thereof), photos were sent to an expert in southern Idaho, who confirmed that they were not real.

Even though (thankfully) there were no actual human remains, Gunderson is still pleased with how the scene was processed.

“It's a good experience for everybody,” he said. “We wanted to do things the right way and treat it like a crime scene until told otherwise.”

In the late-spring months of 2019, the home on Upper Third Street was the site of trash fire that spread up the hillside before fire crews were able to get it contained and put out.