Human Skull Found While Magnet Fishing Bayou St. John

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A handgun, a gun barrel and a "fully decomposed human skull" comprised the haul that a magnet fisher pulled from Bayou St. John on May 18, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

New details on the ghastly discovery emerged in a report of the unclassified death NOPD investigated that Saturday afternoon near the intersection of Mirabeau Avenue and Wisner Boulevard.

Bayou Bougaloo crowds reveled and splashed in the waterway at the music festival a couple miles south as the fisherman dangled a magnet the size of a hockey puck from a red rope off the Bayou St. John bridge.

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He pulled a gun barrel from the bridge's south side near its center, police said. He also retrieved a handgun on the bridge's northeast side, near the water's edge.

Then came a 15-pound dumbbell, tied to a shirt or cloth, which was padlocked around a human skull, police said. That skull was "fully decomposed, lacking a jaw or the top row of teeth," New Orleans police said.

The man flagged down passing Third District officer Joshua Steiner at around 12:47 p.m. that day. New Orleans police did not have updates as of Tuesday and said they were unaware of cold cases involving a decapitated body. The coroner had not confirmed the victim's identity as of Wednesday morning, and spokesperson Jason Melancon said the process could take months.

The LSU Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Laboratory is assisting the coroner's investigation, LSU spokesperson Abbi Rocha Laymoun said on Thursday.

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