Prison Crew Makes Grisly Discovery While Working Along I-5 in Oregon

A prison cleanup crew picking up roadside debris off of Interstate 5 in Oregon came upon a human skull last week.

An Oregon Department of Corrections crew found the skull in a discarded backpack at about 9 a.m. Monday, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.

The skull and backpack were on the northbound side of the road near Salem.

CBS reported that the backpack was initially reported as a “suspicious object.”

The location where the skull was found is about 75 miles southeast of Portland.

The skull is “likely that of a female in her late 30s to 40s,” Oregon State Police said Wednesday, according to KOIN-TV.

The skull has been taken to the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office for identification.

The skull “had no identifiable features,” the state police said.

Resident Liora Pro whose home is not far from the find, said she was both shocked and saddened.

“I hope they find out who put that there,” Pro said, according to KPTV.

Vicki Davis another nearby resident, said she hopes officials can identify the skull.

“I definitely hope they find who did it,” Davis said. “It makes me a little bit worried about the community if there’s people just out there with bags and skulls.”

Inmate finds backpack containing a human skull belonging to a woman while on clean-up duty https://t.co/FDLlqz69lX

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) November 26, 2022

A report on UPI noted that the highway had been the site of a skull dump in June 2018, when a skull was found along I-5 in Roseburg.

In December 2019, the skull was identified as that of Scott Evenson, an Oregon man who had been missing since 2016.

Evenson’s disappearance was never reported to police, although he had been listed as missing on Facebook.

Evenson lived in Myrtle Creek, which is about 200 miles south of Portland, was about 44 years old at the time of his death.

According to NBC, in late 2020,  the body of Haley Mae Coblentz, 9, was found about 60 miles west of the latest skull find. Two people were charged in connection with her death, but the case later collapsed.