MILANVILLE, Pa. — Human skeletal remains were found this week in a wooded area of Wayne County.
The bones were discovered Tuesday by state police using search dogs in the Milanville area of Damascus Township, near the New York state line.
State police suspect foul play and say the remains appear to have been there for close to 20 years.
A forensic anthropologist determined these remains are of a middle-aged white female.
Complete forensic testing is being done at multiple laboratories across the country.
On Tuesday, Joanne Brinkerhoff said she was out walking her dogs along High Bridge Road when she saw state police.
"Something must be up because nothing ever really important goes around here that would require a police vehicle to be sitting there, so I was just kind of wondering, but I hadn't heard anything," Brinkerhoff said. "A little unsettling, considering I walk my dogs on all of these very rural back roads. We've never had any incidents of problems here. I mean people don't even lock their doors around here."
People who live near Milanville say they don't remember hearing anything about a missing person.
"I've been here way longer than 20 years and so no, I don't recall any stories about missing people or anything nefarious. It could be that because it's rural here you know it's an easy place for people to drop off somebody from a crime that was committed somewhere else, but I would be really surprised if a crime was committed here."
State police in Honesdale are leading the investigation.