'Where Did The Child Come From?': Police, Residents Searching For Answers After Child's Remains Found Near Delaware Softball Field
KENT COUNTY, Del. (CBS) -- Delaware police are looking for answers after a disturbing discovery was made in Kent County. The remains of a child were found in a wooded area near a school and a little league field, and now officials are trying to identify the remains.
They believe the child is younger than 10 years old.
Delaware's Attorney General's Office and the chief medical examiner are assisting in the investigation.
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What makes this discovery even more disturbing is that the area where the remains were found is near a popular softball field.
"We have right now in this preliminary stage -- we have a mountain of stuff," says Smyrna Police Cpl. Brian Donner.
This was the first time police spoke after the remains were found near Clayton-Smyrna Little Lass Softball Field.
Police say they received a phone call on Friday afternoon after a family's dog found the child's bones.
They think the child could have been deceased for as long as a couple months.
"It's really a shock because nothing like this ever happened as long as we lived here, in a period of 60 years," Jim Faulkner said.
He and his wife Christine raised their children next door to the fields, which are also located across from Smyrna Middle School and High School.
"I wonder, nobody has reported anybody missing, where did a child come from? Maybe it was brought from somewhere else," Christine Faulkner said.
Eyewitness News has learned evidence may have been set on fire.
The news is disturbing to Leonard Zahms, who has a 10-year-old child of his own.
"Seeing it in my neighborhood was kind of scary," he said.
The child's race and gender are still unknown.
With no reports yet of any missing children in the region, police are now leaning on the public for help.
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"If you saw something over the last couple of months that looked out of the ordinary, give us a call, let us investigate it. It could be the break that we need," Cpl. Donner said.
The medical examiner is expected to release a preliminary report on the cause of death in the coming weeks.