"It was just really freaky that they found bones over there across the street from where I work. I just never thought that they would find something like that on Main Street," said Pat Head, of Dow City, IA.
Two bags full of human bones were found inside this warehouse, one on Monday night and the other on Tuesday afternoon. Yet, no crime tape, no investigators and easy access to where the remains were found. But why?
Crawford County Sheriff James Steinkuehler said, "I truly do not believe a crime took place at this building behind me."
The Sheriff says, it's the nature of the business that deems this situation not suspicious. Ten years ago, a now-deceased Denison man bought the building to store his collection of antiques he picked up all over the area. "A collector who just bought anything and thought maybe someday they'd be valuable," said Sheriff Steinkuehler.
The Sheriff thinks that man didn't even know he had purchased the bones, that he bought bins like these, full of items and the bones were on the bottom. Since his death, the building has been turned into a store-of sorts, visited by hundreds. And the bones were finally found by a person just skimming the aisles. A shocking revelation for the small town.
Helen Seimer of Dow City said, "I came out and he said, 'take your apron and hat off' and he said 'you gotta get down to City Hall.' I couldn't imagine what was going on."
Helen Seimer lives next door and used to help out at the store. But that was years ago, so, when she was questioned this week by authorities and asked to show them around inside, she was shocked at what she found.
"I walked in there, I couldn't believe the way that was piled from the floor to the ceiling and I mean, you could almost mention anything if you could find it, it woulda been in there," said Seimer.
And apparently, that includes human remains. While there isn't an investigation at the scene, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations is looking into what happened before the two bags were purchased.
Folks in Dow City may remember the case of Connie Ruddy, a 21-year old mother of two that went missing in 1997 and all that was found of her was her jawbone. The Sheriff says these remains definitely do not belong to her because a jawbone was found in the bags.
