Human remains believed discovered during control burn

At about 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, Sergeant Catherine Payne informed Historic City News reporters that the sheriff’s office had been called to assist with a suspicious incident in the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve as forestry workers were wrapping up today’s scheduled control burn.

Historic City News reported, yesterday, that today’s burn, the second ecological prescribed burn this month, would take place in the beach dunes on the east side of SR-A1A in South Ponte Vedra Boulevard between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

“The Research Reserve must burn the beach dunes approximately once every decade,” Alex Veillon, Prescribed Fire Manager at the Reserve told Historic City News. State Park employees working at Guana might not have discovered the remains, believed to be human, the origin of which remains “undetermined” at this time. The remains were uncovered as workers systematically set fire to the sea oats and low-lying beach grasses today.

This afternoon, Robbery-Homicide detectives were on the scene. A media staging area was secured in the area just north of the crime scene. The two-lane highway had to be closed at times, temporarily.

Tomorrow, an autopsy will be performed by District 23 Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Predrag Bulic, at which time law enforcement will know more about the gruesome discovery. Historic City News will update this article as new information is released.