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Muskogee police investigating human remains found near the Arkansas River

MUSKOGEE, Okla. — An investigation is underway in Muskogee after human remains were found. The remains were discovered in a rural area near the Arkansas river.

Officers were called on Thursday evening – they say the owner of the property who was working the field found the remains.

Muskogee Police Public Information Officer Taylor Mills told FOX23, “It’s obviously a rural field area. Obviously investigators right now are just a mile and a half east of this location where we are and it’s a pretty grassy treacherous area so that’s why we’re on the edges here.”

The remains were found near Oklahoma State Route 16, north of the Arkansas River Bridge.

Police said they were in the middle of a field about 200 yards from the river.

These are skeletal remains police say they don’t know how long they’ve been there.

Mills said at the moment they’re treating the death as suspicious.

“At this point in time we do not know if it’s a man or a woman,” Mills said. “It’s still really early and the anthropologist will be able to tell us that information … any time [a body] is unattended it’s always considered suspicious. We investigate in that manner so we don’t know the manner of death or anything like that.”

The discovery has left residents shocked. Stephen Coon lives about a mile away from where the remains were found.

“Well that’s the first time I ever heard about [a body being found],” Coon said. “But there’ve been a lot of homeless people staying up there. It’s sad the way that people lose their lives.”

Investigators said they’re now working to find out who this was and the cause of their death.

Police said they’re working alongside the medical examiner who with investigating the remains.

“They’re currently just processing the scene as you would and the medical examiner is assisting our investigation,” Mills said.

Police say it is still early in the investigation and as they learn more they will share it with FOX23 News.

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