Inmate finds human skull belonging to a woman while on clean-up duty next to an interstate in Oregon

The gruesome discovery of a human skull belonging to a woman was found inside a backpack along an interstate highway in Oregon with police on the hunt for clues.

An inmate on clean up duty with the Department of Corrections made the horrifying discovery while working with a clean-up crew on Wednesday.

The small backpack appeared ‘suspicious’ the inmate said as it sat idle near Interstate 5 in Marion County, about 75 miles south of Portland.

Oregon State Police said it believes the skull was a female in her 30s or 40s but said the bone structure did not have any ‘identifiable features,’ CBS News reported. 

The skull was taken to the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s office in the hopes of identifying the victim.

Police have not released any other information about the skull at this time.

This is not the first human skull found in Oregon in recent years

In June 2018, a human skull was discovered alongside an Oregon highway when a highway crew was conducting maintenance.

The skull was found along Interstate 5 in Roseburg, but no other remains were found.

In 2019, DNA testing showed that the skull was later identified to be 44-year-old Scott Evenson, an Oregon man, who went missing in 2016.    

Everson had lived in Myrtle Creek nearly 200 miles south of Portland. 

He was listed as a missing person on Facebook, but his disappearance was never reported to the police, The Oregonian reported.