Bodies Found In Manure Pile At Gary Horse Farm
Updated 4/25/2011 at 5:00 p.m.
GARY, Ind. (CBS/WBBM) -- Two unidentified bodies were discovered over the weekend in a manure pile at a Gary, Ind., horse farm.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Dave Marsett reports, Gary Police Cpl. Mike Barnes said a man who was boarding his horse at the stable spotted what appeared to be a dead body and called police around 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
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There was so much manure that police had to use heavy equipment to shovel it off the bodies. The two male corpses – either Hispanic or white -- were badly decomposed. Police think they had been there for at least a week.
"I definitely think whoever put them there did not want them to be found," Barnes said.
The farm is located in a wooded area at the dead end of Mississippi Street, just south of 22nd Avenue in Gary. It's not the typical image of Gary, but rather a rural and remote sliver with horse stables and chickens.
Every day, Calvin Kimborough feeds horses there for a friend. He heard about the gruesome discovery on the news.
"It's just shocking to me," he told CBS 2's Jim Williams.
Police brought a payloader to the scene about 3 p.m. Sunday to excavate the large mound of manure to make sure there weren't any additional remains. Gary Police and officers from the Lake County Sheriff's Department crime lab then donned blue booties and rubber gloves before digging through the mound, which was at least 10 feet high and releasing a fair amount of steam from the methane.
They halted the excavation several times to probe some clumps of dirt with shovels. Police did find some bones in the pile, but the large size led police to determine that they are probably horse remains.
Barnes said there are no suspects at this time. Police are not saying how the victims died.
The farm boards 15 to 20 horses, and there were several chickens and goats in the yard. About 10 people who board horses at the farm were talking and standing near a line of yellow crime scene tape. They weren't allowed to see their animals until around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, and police gathered their names and phone numbers for the investigation.
If anyone has information, contact Cpl. Barnes at (219) 881-7434.
The Northwest Indiana Post-Tribune contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire
