A disturbing discovery led to piles of human remains being found in a quiet stretch of desert outside Las Vegas.
Authorities launched an investigation to find out who dumped the human remains in the area.
“There’s a whole lot of things buried out there, they may find more than what they’re looking for,” one commented online.
A quiet stretch of desert near Las Vegas unexpectedly turned into a makeshift gravesite
Around 315 sets of ashes were discovered in the desert area outside the town of Searchlight, a rural community about an hour south of Las Vegas.
Officials confirmed that the discovered ashes were human remains or “cremains,” which is the word used to refer to the cremated remains of a human being.
This week, representatives from Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries removed approximately 315 piles of cremains from the desert.
“I think most of us just felt like, ‘What a shame,’” said Celena DiLullo, the president of Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries.
Approximately 315 sets of cremated human remains were found in the plot outside the town of Searchlight
It is believed each pile represented a person who lived in the Southern Nevada community.
The ashes most likely no longer contained any traceable information.
As part of the recovery efforts, each pile was moved into a bag and then an individual urn.
“I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” Celena told 8 News Now.
Each pile of remains was transferred into an individual urn
The discovery was made after a local man stumbled upon the remains on July 28.
In August, authorities confirmed that the remains were human.
It was initially believed there were about 70 piles, but further inspection led to another plot of mounds being found.
Moreover, the land in question was reportedly federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Officials suspected that the ashes may have been dumped by a commercial funeral home business.
The state of Nevada allows people to scatter ashes or cremated remains on public land but forbids the “commercial distribution of cremated remains” on federal land, according to BLM.
“It’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” said Celena DiLullo
Therefore, a massive dumping site of remains like this is likely a violation of federal law.
So far, no suspect or specific mortuary business has been named.
Celena said they weren’t aware of whether the cremated remains belonged to people who wished “to be out.”
But “if this is not how they would want to be remembered, we would just want to have a place for them to be,” Celena added.
Authorities are still investigating how the ashes were dumped on the land
The 315 sets of remains will be placed into a crypt at one of the cemeteries belonging to Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries.
“I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” Celena added. “It’s important to our community and our profession that we demonstrate how much we do care about these people.”
Netizens shared their opinions about the grim discovery, with one saying there are “lots of problems buried in the desert.”
“Choosing a funeral home in Las Vegas seems to be a gamble,” one said.
The internet spun its own wild theories and claimed the plots looked like “mob dumping grounds”
“If I were out hiking, and saw 300 piles of dirt/ashes (not to sound disrespectful),I would have never thought ‘oh there are cremains,’” another quipped.
“I would have honest to God thought an animal made those little hills or something. Am I the only one?? How does one even guess all those were someone’s remains???” they continued.
Some spun their own wild theories and claimed the plots seemed like “mob dumping grounds.”
“Is that where all the homeless went when they cleaned them all out?” read one comment.
“Vegas. Sounds like the mob has been using this area and the new generation got sloppy,” another wrote.
Netizens had plenty to say about the discovery of the piles of ashes
