AUGUSTA, Ga. () – The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has determined a suspicious bone to be non-human. 

It was discovered in the backyard of an Augusta home on the 2000 block of Naples Drive, just off of Barton Chapel Road.

We’re now taking a look at the resources they’re putting to use to help with these kinds of investigations.

The Crime Scene Unit at the Sheriff’s Office has received multiple phone calls this year for different suspicious bones.

These investigations require the work of a forensic anthropologist, which they now have access to in-house. 

It’s a resource required for law enforcement agencies, but not always on-hand at the local level.

That’s now changed for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office with 2021 Augusta University graduate Madison Montoya.

“I started with the Sheriff’s Office about 8 months ago. I originally worked in South Fulton to patrol and as a crime technician as well, and then I just play off of the 4 years I learned anthropology at AU,” said Montoya.

It’s her job to respond to violent crimes in the area, and collect evidence for the crime.

Sometimes, that evidence includes human remains.

“We write a lot of reports—a lot of lengthy reports. If anything arises, like the suspicious bone we found, we’ll share pictures through the crime scene department, verify between each other, and I’ll call whether or not I think it’s a bone (whether animal or human), and then we confer with each other again,” Montoya said.

After investigators responded to the scene on Naples Drive, it was Montoya who determined it was of animal origin based on its shape.

“It differs from case to case, but in this situation I could tell because the bone was more angular on the head,” said Montoya.

Sergeant Shawn Newsome, supervisor for the Crime Scene Unit, says having her on board makes a huge difference to get valuable information on these cases sooner.

“We were having to call an anthropologist from Atlanta to confirm what we kind of already knew based on our experience. For confirmation, we would call an anthropologist from GBI, but she’s left. But, with Maddy on board, we don’t have to wait for days to get a response back. So, it’s a more immediate response that we can get,” said Newsome.

For Montoya, she says it’s also about the peace of mind that comes with getting answers sooner.

“It’s not the greatest feeling when you walk into your backyard and you find a bone laying out there. So, when you have someone locally and quickly respond to say whether a bone is animal or human, it just gives you a sigh of relief,” she added.

The Sheriff’s Office says if you happen to see suspicious remains or if you think they might be of human origin, you’re encouraged to call them, that way they can properly investigate.