State, county and local police and forensic investigators combed through a 100-acre patch of high grass and scrub trees near Bolingbrook on Thursday after a truck driver walking through the field Wednesday evening discovered the remains of what Will County Sheriff Brendan Ward said is a human skull.
The field, in unincorporated DuPage Township, is immediately south of Bolingbrook and north of Lockport. It is just east of the heavily traveled intersection of Interstate Highway 55 and Illinois Highway 53.
The daylong search Thursday for other skeletal body parts was coordinated by the office of Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil in conjunction with an anthropologist with the Illinois State Police.
In addition to members of Ward’s patrol division, Bolingbrook police, who secured the unincorporated area Wednesday night, were assisting in the sweep.
The skull was discovered about dusk Wednesday, according to local police officials.
In a brief statement released Thursday afternoon, Ward said the skeletal remains were found in a remote area of the field, several yards behind a gas station and truck stop on the east side of Highway 53. No cause of death could immediately be determined, according to Ward’s statement.
The Will County coroner’s office referred inquiries about the discovery to Ward. A spokesman for Ward said the sheriff expects to comment further on the discovery and his investigation Friday.