Workers find human fetus near grinder at Georgia wastewater treatment plan

A group of workers performing maintenance on machinery in an Augusta, Ga., wastewater treatment plant made a ghastly discovery Monday: a human fetus floating through the dirty water.

Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen told WXFG that workers discovered the fetus at about 2:40 p.m.

Workers had been performing maintenance on a piece of machinery called the main grinder, which breaks up solid waste, when they found the fetus with its umbilical cord still attached, according to WJBF. The treatment plant was closed and the area turned into a crime scene.

There was no information about the sex or race of the fetus, and no information on how long it may have been in the water. The fetus looked to be about 20 weeks old, the coroner told WRDW.

“It’s really early. CID is out here investigating,” Bowen told the Augusta Chronicle. “We really don’t know what we’ve got right now.” The fetus is being sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's crime lab for an autopsy.

The coroner told WJBF he had never seen a case like this, and couldn't speculate on anything yet as the investigation had just begun.

"We don't know anything right now. We are assuming from where it was found. We have very little details. We are going to consult with the medical examiners," he told the station.

The incident comes about two months after a fetus was found in a wastewater plant in Deer Creek, Okla. In that case, workers were sorting through a pile of solid debris that had been strained from the water when they discovered a fetus, KWTV reported.

"This case hinges a lot on who this individual is. Who this mother is, whether it was a miscarriage, whether it was a premature birth,” Public Information Officer of the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office Mark Opgrande told the station.

This story was originally published May 8, 2018 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Workers find human fetus near grinder at Georgia wastewater treatment plan."