EDINBURGH, Scotland, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A human head found in an Ikea shopping bag on a Scottish footpath was that of a woman who probably died about six months ago, police said Friday.
Tests show that bones found with the head came from the same person, The Scotsman reported.
A woman walking her dog along the Hawthornvale path in Edinburgh found the head on New Year's Eve.
Investigators at first thought the remains were a decade or more old and had been mummified. But they now say the remains appear to be more recent, although they are so decomposed that the woman's hair and eye color have not been determined.
The Ikea bag was fresh, suggesting that the head was dumped not long before it was found.
The woman has not yet been identified. A spokeswoman for police said the death was being treated as suspicious.
"We don't even know how the head came to be off the body -- whether it was due to natural decomposition or whether it was decapitated," she said. "We are keeping a very open mind."
