Berkeley Co. officials: Remains found along Wando River

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Officials say a boater who was on the Wando River Thursday night came across what he thought was an old wooden canoe, but inside the wooden box, he found bones.

Berkeley County officials are investigating remains discovered along the Wando River.

“Once we were notified,” Berkeley County Coroner George Oliver said, “we contacted Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, their Marine Patrol and they came out to assist us. To get us to the area, to see what needed to be done.”

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol Unit and the Berkeley County Coroner’s Office were at the location just past the Mark Clark Expressway Bridge Friday afternoon investigating.

“We were able to go down and actually find it with the help of the informant,” Oliver said. “We did identify bones that we did recover.”

The coroner says the site’s condition leads him to believe the remains have been there for some time.

“It looks like it’s an old wooden casket that it rotted and it has been in that environment for many, many years,” Oliver said.

Officials recovered some of the bones, which they plan to send to an expert for analysis.

“We’ve already got an anthropologist notified,” Oliver said. “These bones will be examined by her to determine to see if we can possibly determine the sex, the race and possibly date them to see how long they may have been out there.”

And officials say they plan to revisit the site again soon.

“We’re going to coordinate with the Sheriff’s Department and DNR to come back out at a later date,” Oliver said, “and excavate the area to see what else we can recover from that site.”

Oliver says if anyone comes across remains of any kind, please do not touch them and call law enforcement right away.