WAYNE COUNTY — State and local officials are continuing to investigate a discovery of skeleton remains in Wayne County.

Officials continued to work Friday on gathering details and evidence from the discovery in a wooded area of the rural county.

Officials with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department and the Wayne County Coroner’s Office were reportedly called to the area on Thursday morning concerning a discovery.

Wayne County Coroner David Pugh said he was “notified at 8:44 a.m. Thursday that skeleton remains had been found.”

Pugh said the location of the discovery was in “a wooded area in north Wayne County.”

Pugh said Deputy Coroner Mike Williams responded to the scene of the discovery and is working with the Sheriff’s Department officials on the case.

Wayne County Investigator Kevin Stevens said Friday that the Sheriff’s Department had contacted the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, which is working with local officials on this case.

“Right now all we can say is that we’ve located skeleton remains and are investigating it,” Stevens said. “We have the MBI here and we are working with the MBI Crime Lab to get all of this evidence logged and analyzed.”

Officials said the discovery was made by some hunters in a wooded area in the Pleasant Grove Community off of Highway 45 North going toward Shubuta in Clarke County.

Pugh said that his office “is still investigating it.”

The coroner confirmed that “ it’s believed to be human remains. However, we don’t know anything else. ... Hopefully, in the next couple of days we will be able to give some information.”

Sheriff’s Department officials said an official press release concerning the incident would not be available until Monday.