WAKEFIELD, Mass. — Investigators in Wakefield are working to identify a set of human remains found Monday morning in the back yard of a home that was recently sold.
A roofing contractor had just started their work when they spotted what they thought was an animal. The roofer came over to take a look, and it was no animal.
"You don't usually see things like that," said Edson Marini, whose company was working on a roof replacement at a newly-purchased home when a landscaper cleaning the property saw something bizarre behind a shed.
"Their first thought was that it was an animal and he asked when he saw the jaw, he said, he thinks it’s a body, I came down and I take a look and I called police," Marini said.
The discovery was made just before 10:30 a.m. Monday at the home on Lakeshore Drive. Landscapers were working on the home when they saw shoes, bones, and clothing under some brush behind a shed. They called police.
As Marini called the homeowner, local police and state troopers and the medical examiner were on their way to the scene.
Homeowner Patrick Sautier of Somerville hired the contractors to prep the new home for his family.
"Yeah, I don't know if that is a fresh body, I didn't know what it is," Sautier said.
Sautier said he's actually relieved that the discovery happened when it did.
"I'm glad, thank God they found him because he had been under (there) for I don't know how long you know, God bless his soul, whoever it is, so I'm glad they did find them," Sautier said. "You don't want to see someone's (remains) there in your back yard."
Sautier has a teenager and two grandchildren who will be living at the home.
"(It's) not something you want them to stumble through, no, no," he said.
Police tell Boston 25 News the remains appear to have been there for a long time. Due to the condition of the remains, they say a cause of death and identity are not yet available.
Neighbors and a former worker say the house was a sober house before being sold to Sautier.
Wakefield Police say there is no threat to the public.
On Tuesday, the contractor will be back to continue the job.
Sautier hopes to move in next month.
The Middlesex District Attorney and State Police are investigating whose body it is and how they died.
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