Human skeleton not identified after being found in Peach County, coroner says

The autopsy results of a human skeleton found last week in Peach County were inconclusive, according to the Peach County Coroner’s Office.

It’s rare to find a human skeleton alongside Interstate 75, but it’s also rare to not get any information from an autopsy, according to Coroner Kerry Rooks.

“It happens very rarely,” Rooks said. “Being by (I-75), it could be somebody around here, a homeless person or somebody from way off somewhere. We have no idea.”

An employee with the Georgia Department of Transportation found the full human skeleton about 60 feet from the road on May 6.

The autopsy could not even allow officials to identify the person’s sex, Rooks said.

An anthropologist is expected to analyze the person’s origin, cause of death and other identifying details by Wednesday, according to Rooks.

“We’re going from scratch,” Rooks said. “We don’t have any information.”

It could take weeks to get DNA results, which could only help identify the person if they were previously fingerprinted or identified by law enforcement.

If the person had never been arrested or fingerprinted, it will be difficult to match them to an identity, according to Rooks.

In that case, “we have to have a family member to match it with to know who it is,” he said.

This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM.