A caller to a DC-area morning radio show on Friday claimed he had discovered a corpse at a campsite in Frederick County, just west of Baltimore, prompting police to search the area and later recover human remains.
The caller, identifying himself only as Joseph, told the Elliot in the Morning show on DC101 that he had come across the body 18 days earlier.
‘Joseph’ told host Elliot Segal that he did not want to give his real name and went on to say he had sent in photos of himself “exploring nature” when he happened upon a dead body on a campsite.
“That was amazing,” he said. “This may sound sick, but I’ve always wanted to come across something like that and, luckily, it was months old, so that was nice.”
He admitted he had not yet notified authorities. Segal urged him repeatedly to call the police.
“I’m gonna have them pick me up, and I’ll drive them out to the site,” the caller said, adding that he had a dream that he had called the police on the same day. He said he had sent photos and details to Segal’s co-host Diane Stupar-Hughes.
‘Joseph’ said on air that he intended to alert the authorities later on Friday, and shortly after midday, police in Frederick, a city of around 80,000, said they had located a body.
“We are aware of information shared earlier today on a local radio station regarding a deceased individual found in a wooded area off East Street and Carroll Creek Crossing,” the Frederick Police Department said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Detectives found the body and opened an investigation, the department said, adding: “Detectives from our Criminal Investigations Division responded, located the individual, and are now conducting an active investigation. At this time, there is no threat to the public.”
On Monday, police spokeswoman Samantha Long said the remains were located in a wooded area near a roundabout at Monocacy Boulevard and East Street, close to Interstate 70.
She said the investigation was ongoing and the remains had not been identified. The cause and circumstances of death have yet to be determined.
Elliot in the Morning is a long-running drive-time show known for its listener call-ins and celebrity interviews.
Often controversial in nature, the show, which runs weekdays for around four-and-a-half hours, is known for its stunts and has racked up hundreds of dollars in FCC fines since launching in 1999.
