Police in Jackson, Mississippi, were called after people reported seeing a dog walking around carrying a severed human arm.
Police later found the rest of the body – without the arm and without a head – near an abandoned home, WLBT reported. The dog was reported on Saturday, while the rest of the body was found on Sunday, Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said, according to WAPT. The coroner also reportedly said the victim appears to be a white male.
Hinds County Sheriff Deputy Chief Deric Hearn said in a news release that the decapitated body was found in the woods near an abandoned house on Terry Road.
The investigation is still in the preliminary stages. During a Monday press briefing, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba was asked about his reaction to the death.
“That is a very graphic and brutal picture. The mutilation of a body, my reaction is one of disgust, is one of concern,” Lumumba said, according to CBS News. “It’s not something you grow accustomed to. It’s never something you want to grow accustomed to.”
“The way I deal with concern is to ask questions and push forward to how we can bring justice,” he added, according to WAPT.
As of Monday, the head still has not been located, and it is not known whether the head and arm were removed prior to the victim’s death, WLBT reported.
Grisham-Stewart said that questions and others surrounding the death would be answered by the State Medical Examiner and that the body is currently being held at the Hinds County Morgue, waiting to be examined.
Authorities have not released the name of the victim or additional details in the case. The death marks Jackson’s 117th homicide this year.