Cops: Bone found on South Shore not human
Suffolk County police marine units collect potential evidence near Oak Beach. (April 15, 2011) Credit: James Carbone
A bone found last week during an ongoing search for remains on a South Shore island is not human, Suffolk police said Tuesday.
A person spotted the bone near the parking lot at Oak Beach on Friday afternoon and alerted police. It was taken to the Suffolk County medical examiner's office, where technicians determined it was not human, a police spokeswoman said.
The find occurred while police conducted the third day of a water search last week for the remains of Shannan Gilbert, a missing Jersey City woman, or other clues around Hemlock Cove in the Great South Bay.
That search and others were triggered by the discovery of 10 sets of human remains since December on the north side of Ocean Parkway, eight of them in Suffolk followed by two in Nassau in recent weeks. Gilbert has so far been excluded, but genetic analysis is under way on the most recent discoveries in both counties.
In the search for more human remains, FBI aircraft flew over Jones Beach Island last week and Monday to create high-resolution images of the area. Images from that operation are yet to be analyzed.
