The remains of an unidentified individual were located by three hikers on the afternoon of March 25, near the South Yuba Fork Bridge in Nevada City. Photo courtesy of Nevada County Sheriff's Office

NEVADA CITY, CA (MPG) – The remains of an unidentified individual were located by three hikers on the afternoon of March 25, near the South Yuba Fork Bridge in Nevada City.

The hikers had cut their own trail in the brush and traveled through rugged terrain when they came across a suspected human skull. They immediately hiked to the South Yuba Fork Bridge to call 911 where there is an emergency phone installed (there is little to no cell phone reception in the area).

Deputies of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) responded to the bridge and met up with the hikers in the early evening, one of whom led the deputies on their man-cut trail to the remains.

Nevada County Sheriff’s Office deputies confirmed the skull was in fact human and located additional skeletal remains. Plans were made to safely retrieve the remains the following morning on March 26 with Nevada County Sheriff’s Office detectives, in partnership with California State Parks, the Chico State Anthropology Department and the Nevada County Sheriff's Search & Rescue.

“The team has been out for the better part of today, carefully extracting located human remains and evidence for future examination,” said Nevada County Sheriff’s Office Captain Sean Scales. “Chico’s Anthropology Department can assist in determining gender, race, stature, age and more about our unidentified person.”

The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office is taking lead on the death investigation at the request of California State Parks.

A thorough examination by a forensic anthropologist at Chico State, a review of evidence discovered at the scene and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis will hopefully lead to identification of the remains and provide insight into the cause and manner of death.