Swimmers find human remains in river where historic remains have been found, cops say

A group of swimmers stumbled upon suspected skeletal human remains in a river in Nebraska, police said.

The swimmers, who were not identified, contacted the Stanton County Sheriff’s Office on June 26 after finding the partial remains in the Elkhorn River, according to a police news release.

Officials then responded to a section of the river near Pilger and collected the remains.

“The Sheriff’s office will work with forensic scientists associated with the University of North Texas to determine the specifics of the remains and try and determine if they are historic or from a more recent death and any manner of death,” police said.

Following severe floods several years ago, three skeletal remains were found in or around the same river, a tributary of the Platte River.

Upon forensic examination, it was determined that all three sets of remains dated to the 19th century or earlier, making them all at least a century old, police said.

Pilger is about 100 miles northwest of Omaha.

Fluctuations in the water levels of other bodies of water have yielded similar findings.

Multiple human remains have been discovered in Lake Mead, a reservoir straddling Arizona and Nevada, after it was significantly drained by drought, according to previous McClatchy News reporting.

This story was originally published June 27, 2023 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Swimmers find human remains in river where historic remains have been found, cops say."