Hiker Finds Human Remains on Popular State Forest Trail

A popular state forest was rocked on Saturday afternoon after a hiker stumbled upon a dead body.

The incident occurred in Cooper's Rock State Forest, an over 12,700-acre forest located just outside of Morgantown, West Virginia, near the border with Pennsylvania. The Monongalia County Sheriff's Office confirmed the discovery in a social media post from Tuesday morning, explaining that a hiker discovered the remains just off of the forest's Mont Chateau Trail.

"On Saturday, September 3, 2022, at 2:44 pm, Monongalia County Sheriff's Deputies were advised by a hiker that human remains were observed in Coopers Rock State Forest," a Facebook statement authorized by Sheriff Perry Palmer read. According to the hiker, the remains were located off the Mont Chateau Trail. Deputies responded to the area and confirmed the presence of human remains.

"The body was recovered from the area and transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Charleston for identification. No further information will be released until positive identification has been made by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner," that statement said.

Little else is known about the situation as the investigation by law enforcement continues, including details about the identity of the dead individual or how they are believed to have died.

Spanning Monongalia and Preston Counties, Coopers Rock State Forest is a popular destination in West Virginia, according to the West Virginia State Parks website. The forest is situated near Cheat Lake and the Cheat River that runs out of it, making it a popular destination in the region for whitewater rafting. It is also a well-regarded destination for travelers, boasting high user scores on Google, TripAdvisor, and AllTrails, the latter being a website for hiking enthusiasts.

Newsweek reached out to the Monongalia County Sheriff's Office for comment.

National and state parks are frequently the sites of such startling discoveries, due to their remote nature and sometimes treacherous landscapes. In April, police in Concord, New Hampshire, reported the discovery of two dead bodies believed to be a missing older couple just off of a trail on the land of the Broken Ground Trails hiking destination. Both individuals, Stephen Reid, 67, and Djeswende Reid, 66, had multiple gunshot wounds, leading their deaths to be classified as homicides.

Not every discovery turns out to be as disturbing as it seems. In February, sheriff's deputies responding to reports of a possible dead body in the Hitchiti National Forest near Macon, Georgia, found that it was, in fact, a realistic life-sized doll, complete with several accessories nearby.