Human remains were found at a homeless encampment in downtown Portland on Monday, and police said the discovery might be linked to human remains discovered in a garbage bag at a different encampment last week.
The most recently discovered remains were found by cleanup crews during a sweep of a homeless encampment near West Burnside Street and I-405. Police were called to the scene around 12:40 p.m. Monday.
Detectives suspect the remains found both Monday and last week are from the same person, “but confirmation is pending a full examination by the State Medical Examiner’s Office,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.
The human remains found last week were at an encampment on Southwest Harvey Milk Street near Naito Parkway, according to police.
After last week’s discovery, police spokesperson Mike Benner declined to clarify what the human remains entailed and only stated that the homicide unit was investigating the finding.
“At this point, we don’t know what we have,” Benner said. “But human remains were found on a downtown Portland street. That’s incredibly troubling to our detectives.”
Benner added that police at the time did not know whether a homicide had taken place.
“We do not have any indication right now that someone is going around our city committing violent acts,” he said.
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