Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Tennessee detectives started an investigation last week after a human heart was found in a Department of Transportation salt barn.
State transportation workers in McEwen, Tenn., were combining products to make salt brine last Thursday when they found what they initially believed to be a rock. It was actually a human heart dried out from the salt. No other body parts have been found.
"I've got 32 years in law enforcement," Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said. "I do have to say this is probably in the top five of most bizarre things that I've ever seen."
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations joined in the search and probe on Friday. Clark said additional DNA tests will be performed to find out more information. The unusual case is being treated as a homicide, he added.
"Anytime we go on the scene where there's a body or remains, we treat it as a homicide, and then basically prove different," Davis said. "Somebody, somewhere knows."
The TBI has started work on whether it can identify how the heart got into the salt, whether it came from another facility or put thereon site.
Morton provides bulk salt for roads in Tennessee but receives it salt from some 20 facilities across the country. There is currently no evidence that it came from any of those outlets.
