The body of an unidentified man was found at the bottom of the J-Pit on the city’s far southwest side late Wednesday afternoon, Gary police spokesman Sgt. Thomas Decanter said.
A Black Oak boy was riding his ATV in the J-Pit — a 150-plus-acre former sand mine, now a brownfield — when he saw what he thought was a deer rolled up in a carpet at the bottom of the huge crater, Decanter said.
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The boy told his father, who quickly realized it was a human body, Decanter said.
Because of the frozen ground, ice and falling snow, investigators have not been able to get close to the scene, just off 22nd Avenue near Fairbanks Street in Black Oak. Police were waiting for four-wheel drive vehicles to drive to the bottom of the pit and begin the formal investigation.
The disposal of the body suggest the man’s death is suspicious, Decanter said.
Detective James Bond was at the scene with Lake County crime laboratory investigators and deputy coroners.