Investigation into bones found in NW Ind. cemetery

HAMMOND, Ind. — Police believe human bones found near a berm in a troubled cemetery may have been inadvertently unearthed by maintenance workers using a construction backhoe.

The Times of Munster reports the North Township trustee’s office plans to excavate a nearby dirt pile to make sure there aren’t more. The bones were discovered Sunday when someone driving past the 21-acre Oak Hill Cemetery reported seeing a skull. An investigation is under way to determine where the bones are from.

The North Township trustee’s office is in the process of taking over the cemetery because of poor maintenance, unmarked graves and discarded headstones.

North Township Trustee Frank Mrvan said the bones were found near a large dirt berm and what was once a debris area where several headstones had been dumped after being removed from grave sites.

“Our main concern right now is making sure we do everything we can to restore and preserve the integrity of the cemetery,” Mrvan said.

Volunteers from the Gary Diocesan Cemeteries, under Mrvan’s leadership, moved most of the discarded markers back to their graves in December.

Lake County coroner’s spokesman PJ Adams said a forensic anthropologist determined Monday the bones were likely those of a middle-age woman. Adams said the bones were consistent with the type typically found in excavated grave sites.