Texas Man Recalls Moment He Found Human Skull in Swamp as Cops Launch Probe

The Rains and Hunt County Sheriff's Offices and the Texas Rangers have confirmed the discovery of human skeletal remains this week.

Rains County Sheriff's Office confirmed that remains were sent to the University of North Texas for Human Identification after they were discovered on November 30. They were found by a man who was hiking through the area.

On Facebook, Michael Ramsey shared his experience in a post that has received over 2,700 shares and more than 1,200 reactions.

"I spend a lot of time running and hiking," Ramsey told Newsweek. "The day I found the human remains I was mainly looking for old growth trees. I entered the woods at a spot I found the day before after exiting the kayak from the creek and walking out."

While walking through the woods, he stumbled upon a tall water oak tree and spotted an abandoned bike. That was when things took a turn.

"It was covered up with a fairly large and very long dead-rotted tree. Shortly after that I spotted what looked to me to possibly be a human pelvic bone and a femur bone," recalled Ramsey. "I began searching for more bones and continued to walk slowly and circle away from the area as I did so. Suddenly I spotted the human skull approximately forty or fifty feet of the big tree."

"I immediately began thinking of what to do next and wondering who this was. Was it a young person? Has there been anyone reported missing around this area? I wondered if this person had a lot in common with me. Did this tree fall on him years ago? I was surprised that I started feeling emotional," said Ramsey. "I felt like if I tried to tell anyone about this I would break down. That seemed so illogical to me and I kept wondering why I felt that way. At that point I decided to start documenting everything. I took numerous pictures, documenting everything."

Leaving the area and returning home, Ramsey got cleaned up and started to make phone calls to local law enforcement. The Sabine River Authority and both the Rains and Hunt County Sheriff's Offices attended the scene to begin a further investigation.

Ramsey later shared his discovery with friends on Facebook where the post about his discovery gained unexpected attention with thousands of reactions: "The viral reaction to the post is something I have never experienced," he said. Ramsey shared his account of discovering the remains along with a range of images from the scene, which were later removed at the request of the Sheriff's office.

Identifying the Remains

As news of the discovery spread, so did social media posts about the incident. In response to this, Rains County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook: "Our agencies are aware there have been postings on social media regarding evidence and assumptions that the remains are of a missing Quinlan man, however, proper identification has not been made and can only be made by dental records or DNA. Identification of human remains can be a lengthy process and we ask that you keep the families who have missing loved ones in mind when posting information about the findings."

In the comments on Facebook, local residents reacted to the news by sharing their condolences.

"Prayers to the families," said one commenter, while another wrote: "Praying for the family of all involved."

The investigation remains ongoing as part of a joint effort between Rains and Hunt County Sheriff's Offices and the Texas Rangers.

Newsweek has reached out to Rains and Hunt County Sheriff's Offices for comment, but hadn't received a response at time of publication.