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Police are investigating after a pedestrian found a human head inside an open box on a sidewalk in a West Side neighborhood of Chicago last week.
According to NBC Chicago, the box was found as the pedestrian was walking their dog near a sports complex in the 2600 block of West Taylor Street just before 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10.
The person who found the head in the box had reportedly hoped it was just a Halloween decoration. It wasn’t.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed on Friday that the remains found in the box were in fact a real human head.
The gender, race and age of the victim was unknown and it is unclear how long the box had been sitting on the sidewalk before it was discovered, who put it there, as well as how and why the head ended up in the box.
CBS Chicago reports that the head was sent to an anthropologist with the hope of identifying who the person was using dental records. The anthropologist will also be assisting on trying to determine the person’s cause of death.
According to Indiana police, a human body without a head was found in Northwest Indiana between Gary and Lake Station the following Friday night. Fox Chicago reports that it was not clear whether the two cases are connected, but police say that they are investigating.
Meanwhile, another report of a human body that was found on Interstate 65 near Exit 261D in Northwest Indiana on Friday night has identified a 23-year-old male from Gary, Indiana as the victim. He reportedly died from blunt force injuries.
Two weeks ago, NBC Chicago reports, Illinois State Police were contacted by Chicago police about skeletal remains that had been found in an area adjacent to Interstate 90 northbound on Chicago’s Northwest side. The remains were discovered in an embankment area on state property.