Human remains found in Town of Morrison

TOWN OF MORRISON - The Brown County Sheriff's Department stayed on the scene Wednesday and has been on the scene since it found out about the remains Wednesday afternoon. The Sheriff's Department says if the temperature or snow conditions had been any different, it's quite possible these remains might not have been found.

"That's what's unique about this, is the fact that hunters are out in the woods where nobody else is," said Brown County Sheriff Dennis Kocken. "As you can see it's very isolated, very desolate out here. Just by pure coincidence and/or luck that a hunter stumbles across this," Kocken added.

Kocken said a hunter discovered the human remains, including a skull and what appears to be another bone, in a heavily forested area, about 30 yards north of County Road Z in Brown County. Kocken said the remains were probably in a shallow grave.

The sheriff's department is treating the situation as a homicide, though the department doesn't know many details. The sheriff's department said a body may have been dumped in the heavily forested area several months, or maybe even years ago. They are hoping to learn more when the state crime lab investigates on Thanksgiving Day.

"They'll excavate the remains. Often times on these the remains might have been dragged to the location from some type of animal," said Capt. Jeff Sanborn from the Brown County Sheriff's Department. Sanborn added, "it might be a crime scene of a quarter of a mile by quarter of a mile, to look for other remains."

Brown County officers secured the area where the remains were found. The state crime lab is expected to be in the town of Morrison Thursday morning to process the scene and hopefully find out more about the remains. The Sheriff's Department has also contacted other counties to check on missing person's cases.