A box of bones sat in storage for 40 years, now they’ve been discovered

For forty years, a box of human bones sat in storage. But it wasn’t until late August of this year that they were discovered.

On Aug. 30, a man cleaning out his recently deceased mother’s house found a box of bones tucked away in storage and gave it to Bellingham Police.

The box is believed to have been found on family property near Oak Harbor in the 1970s, according to police Lt. Don Almer. The box was then moved to storage in Bellingham in 2010.

The remains were turned over to the Whatcom County medical examiner – it was later found out that some of the bones were non-human, and were disposed of. The others were human, but were old and of no forensic evidence, Almer said.

The human bones were then sent to the Washington State Anthropologist in early September – a report has not been sent back to local authorities.

There are no indications of criminal activity associated with the remains, Almer said.

This story was originally published November 11, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A box of bones sat in storage for 40 years, now they’ve been discovered."