Woman's Remains Found on I-80 and I-380 in Poconos

Woman's Remains Found on I-380 and I-80 in the Poconos

Tuesday, January 29, UDPATED: 6:32 p.m.
By Trish Hartman

State police and investigators from two counties are now involved in the case of human remains found along Interstates 380 and 80.

State police said body parts of a light-skin woman were found along Interstates 80 and 380. They remains were found in garbage bags in eight different locations, spread out over a 15-mile radius on I-380 and a five-mile radius on I-80.

PennDOT crews were salting the roads about 9 a.m. when they found the first bag near the Mount Pocono exit. They called state police.

State police then began a wide-spread search for the rest of the remains.

"At this point no, we are not comfortable we have found all the pieces. We have certainly done a search of Interstate 80 in Monroe, Carbon, Luzerne and Columbia counties. Again, could something be dumped down the side, certainly," said Lieutenant Robert Bartal.

The remains were spread out over eight different locations in Monroe and Lackawanna counties.

"Most of it is along Interstate 380 on the northbound side. We have one site discovered on the southbound side, then we have a site eastbound on Interstate 80 and a site westbound on I-80. There are a total of eight sites," Bartal added.

Troopers have been working on the case all day after shutting down I-380 in Monroe County when the first body part was discovered.

Traffic has been restricted along I-380 all day as troopers gathered what information they could.

Drivers at a near-by rest area on I-80 said they're shocked.

"It's unbelievable, unbelievable. Eleven years I'm working with them (PennDOT) and first time I heard of it. I can't believe what's going on," said PennDOT worker Angelo Delugio.

"That's the way life is. There's a lot of crazy people in this world," said trucker Dave Latham.

Many unanswered questions remain. "How long it's been there we really don't know at this point. We're hoping that anyone who may have seen anyone dumping any kind of bags along the interstate will give us a call," said Lieutenant Bartal.

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday and it's hoped that will help investigators identify the woman. Troopers are also going through missing person reports to see if they could lead to a name.

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=7789792