Hunter finds human remains on the West Plains

A hunter reported finding a human skull partially covered by dirt in the general area of Brooks and Thorpe Road on the West Plains Wednesday morning.

The area where the skull was found is 2 miles from the nearest road, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Gregory, a deputy. The hunter immediately hiked back to his vehicle and called 911, Gregory said.

A team of searchers have been scouring well over 100 acres in the area ever since, Gregory said. The hunter’s discovery was not made immediately public because the search area was so large there was no way to secure it overnight, he said.

The searchers did locate more remains in addition to the skull. “The remains had been there for a while,” Gregory said. “We have no idea how they got there.”

Investigators are trying to determine the identity of the person and whether any criminal activity was involved in the person’s death.