Child-sized casket left on sidewalk leads to gruesome discovery

Just after 9pm local time the district police were called to the scene across the street from Mt. Vernon Cemetery and opened the small, white coffin, finding no body but instead what “appeared to be human organs” wrapped in a plastic bag inside.IN a gruesome discovery, the organs of a child have been found in an infant sized casket on the footpath in Philadelphia.

The casket was discovered in a garbage bag on the sidewalk by passers-by. Source: CBS PhillySource:Supplied

The remains were later transferred to a medical examiner’s office where it was confirmed to be two embalmed human organs that had belonged to a young child.

“What’s unusual is that inside the coffin, other than the bag of organs, there was no body,” Chief Inspector, Scott Small, told Philadelphia television station CBS3.

“No head, arms, legs or torso. No skeleton, no skin, just organs.”

Twenty five-year-old Chris James was one of the passers-by that made the shocking discovery and said he was cautious of the small garbage bag-wrapped casket and decided to leave it to the police to open.

“We didn’t want to open it because we didn’t know what was inside, toxic waste, it could have been anything,” he told CBS3.

“We honestly thought it could be an animal.”

Police opened the coffin to reveal a plastic bag with human organs inside. Source: CBS PhillySource:Supplied

Small said the coffin was “fresh” and showed signs that it was recently pried open, adding that it was not unheard of for human remains to be stolen.

“There have been cases where people take remains or human bodies for whatever unusual reason they decide. But we’re going to look into that.”

Authorities are currently searching nearby cemeteries for newly dug graves and investigating local funeral homes in order to find where the casket and organs came from.

A child-sized casket was found on the side of the road in Philadelphia. Source: CBS Philly