A fisherman made a baffling find when he hauled up a human skull tied up to a dumbbell from a southeastern Louisiana river May 18 while music festival attendees reveled a few miles away, according to a local report.
The fisherman, using a magnet the size of a hockey puck, fetched a 15-pound dumbbell tied to a shirt or cloth that was padlocked around the skull from the Bayou St. John in New Orleans, NOLA.com reported Tuesday. He was fishing from the Magnolia Bridge above the bayou on Mirabeau Avenue and Wisner Boulevard at the edge of City Park. He contacted New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Third District Officer Joshua Steiner about the find, the report revealed. The police reportedly described the skull as “fully decomposed, lacking a jaw or the top row of teeth.”
The fisherman had fetched a gun barrel and a handgun just before discovering the skull, according to the report. Meanwhile, crowds attending the Bayou Bougaloo—a three-day music festival—partied in the bayou a few miles south of the area. (RELATED: Man Allegedly Kills Father, Shows Decapitated Head In Video Rant Slamming Biden Admin, Authorities Said: REPORT)
It was found in Bayou St. John
— WXXV 25 (@WXXV25) May 30, 2024
The police confirmed the incident as “an unclassified death incident” and said an investigation was underway but gave no further information, WWL-TV reported May 21.
The police were unaware of cold cases involving decapitation and had no updates as of Tuesday, NOLA.com reported. Determining the identity of the victim could take months, NOPD spokesperson Jason Melancon told the outlet.
Investigators and cadaver dogs reportedly searched the shoreline and the area surrounding the bridge May 21.
An annual voodoo ceremony marking the feast of St. John the Baptist takes place on the Bayou St. John Jun. 23, NOLA.com separately reported. The votive decapitation of chickens has been associated with voodoo, Santería, and other syncretic religions, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
A 29-year-old Kansan murder suspect James Paul Harris pleaded guilty Mar. 31, 2014 to decapitating 49-year-old James Gerety with a guitar string in Topeka, Kansas, in 2011 as part of a suspected voodoo ritual, according to CBS News. Harris allegedly shot Gerety in the stomach, tortured him for two days, decapitated him, and kept the head so as to talk to it, the report revealed.
There was no indication in the report by NOLA.com that the human skull found in Bayou St. John was associated with voodoo or similar religions.
The Daily Caller reached out to the NOPD Third District Officer but did not get a response as of the time of this report.
