CLEVELAND — Cleveland police said a worker cleaning out a vacant home on the city's east side found suspected human remains Friday.
It happened around 12:15 p.m. on East 142nd Street near Bartlett.
A neighbor who didn't want to be identified due to concerns for her safety said a worker banged on her door and asked her to follow him to the home's garage.
Inside, she said the worker showed her a garbage bag containing bones.
For hours on Friday, police roped off the scene with crime scene tape as investigators searched for clues behind the house and in a dumpster in the home's driveway.
That dumpster was later loaded onto a truck and hauled away with a police car following it.
'I look at that house every day, and I never thought nothing be in the garage," said Douglas Harper as he sat on his front steps across from the home.
Harper said the house has been empty for years, changing hands several times.
County records showed it was just purchased by new owners earlier this month.
Neighbors said workers began cleaning it out this week.
Bert Roberts, who lives across from the house, said his neighbors complained to the city about illegal dumping at the house a few years ago.
He said that about two or three years ago, neighbors also noticed a smell coming from the home.
"It was like, 'What is that stinking like that?'" said Roberts. "Must be something dead. Well, evidently it was."
Along with the dumpster, police could also be seen carrying bags of evidence from the scene Friday afternoon.
On Monday, April 21, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that the remains were human. No further information has been released.
The Cleveland Police Homicide Unit has been alerted and will work with the medical examiner's office to investigate the matter.
