Human Remains Found Inside 20-Foot Hole In Indiana; Investigation Begins

KEY POINTS

Officers said the deceased has not been identified yet
Detectives did not find evidence of foul play
The owner of the property has been contacted

Police in Indiana have started investigating an incident wherein a body was found inside a 20-foot-hole in Terre Haute. Authorities said human remains were found at the bottom of what was believed to be an old well.

Terre Haute Police Department (THPD) said deputies were alerted about a "dangerous opening" in the ground around 1 p.m. Saturday, reported Centre Daily Times. The hole was found on the town's south side near 6th Street and Margaret Avenue.

An officer aimed a flashlight down the hole and found a corpse on the bottom. The Fire Department was alerted and the body was soon pulled up from the pit.

Reports said officers are working to identify the person but do not have any more details at this point. However, they believe the deceased was a male.

Terre Haute Police Chief Shawn Keen told the local newspaper Tribune-Star that detectives have not found any evidence that points to foul play. According to them, observations at the scene indicate the death does not appear to be recent.

The chief said the city has secured the site until a solution for the hole is made. The Vigo County Coroner’s Office has also been contacted. The investigators hope to learn more from the pending autopsy, the report added.

The THPD has reached out to the property owner, who lives out of state, according to the newspaper. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Terre Haute police at 812-238-1661.

In a similar incident, the remains of two teenagers who went missing in 2000 were recently found underwater by a scuba diver. The missing case of Erin Foster and Jeremy Bechtel remained unsolved for two decades until scuba diver Jeremy Sides found Foster’s car underwater in the Calfkiller River, Tennessee.

Foster, 18, and Bechtel, 17, were last seen in the former’s 1998 Pontiac Grand Am after they left a party. Though searches were conducted, there was no trace of the duo until Sides took it upon himself to search the Calfkiller River using high-tech sonar equipment.