A group of teenagers made a gruesome discovery in a Long Island park on Thursday, stumbling upon a severed arm that ultimately led authorities to the remains of two people that had been dumped recently, Suffolk County police said.
The group of teens were walking to a nearby school around 8:40 a.m. Thursday morning when a girl in the group spotted a severed left arm—which was later identified as belonging to a male victim—on the east end of Southards Pond Park in Babylon.
The student called her father, who then contacted 911 and prompted the police investigation.
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Police searched Southards Pond Park, finding a severed head and leg among the remains of a man and a woman. The man’s remains were found on the eastern end of the park, while the woman’s remains were found on the west side.
A cadaver dog helped police locate the female victim’s head, arm, and leg among a mound of leaves in the west end of the park. On the east side, the dog found a right arm “approximately 20 feet away from the original discovery of the left arm,” both of which were tattooed and belonged to the male victim.
Detectives believe the bodies were dumped recently, possibly “hours or just a day or so” before their discovery, a spokesperson for the police department told The Daily Beast.
The remains were dumped “likely by someone in a vehicle,” indicating the victims were killed elsewhere and then discarded at the park.
The search for additional parts continued Friday morning. Authorities did not give any autopsy updates and reported no information on the possible identities of the victims.
Authorities are treating the gruesome find as a homicide.
