Teacher recounts finding human remains in Montco park

A schoolteacher looking for deer antlers in Norristown Farm Park in East Norriton discovered human remains and a World War II rifle Monday.

Matt Hartzell called the Inquirer to give this first-person account of the discovery:

"I was looking for deer antlers and hiking; it was my day off, President's Day. I started at the dam near the incinerator. I parked my car at the dam off Germantown Pike in E. Norriton about 11 o'clock.

"I was scanning the ground for antlers and saw something shiny. As I looked further, I saw the butt of a gun.

"I pulled it out and found a World War II assault rifle. The shiny part was the bayonet. It was still attached.

"And then I noticed a black blanket or jacket, trench coat. I moved it around, and in the pocket were car keys. It had a remote car opener from the 90s.

"As I picked the jacket up, I saw the remains. There were hips, arm bones, and a spine, but no skull.

"I honestly thought the gun was there for poaching deer; that's why it was under a log.

"It wasn't until I saw the skeleton that I knew right away it wasn't a deer skeleton, it was a human. You could tell by the vertebrae.

"I walked up the hiking path until I came upon an elderly couple. I said, 'Do you have the number to the ranger stand?' They said, 'Yes, we have it right here in our cell phone.'

"I called the ranger. He came out and positively identified it as human remains.

"East Norriton police came out, as well as Montgomery County Detectives.

"They said it looked as if it had been there a long time, as much as a decade. They will use the car keys as a start to see if a car had been towed from the park. They said there were no persons missing from the park."

East Norriton police department said today the case is being handled by the Montgomery County District Attorney. Calls to that office and the coroner's office had not been returned at 1:15 p.m.

The rifle appears to be a Soviet-era SKS.

Hartzell is a teacher in Pottsgrove. A hunter, he collects antlers. He was in the park, hoping to add to his collection, since deer, protected from hunting in the park, grow very big antlers.

"I want to know who it is, how he died," Hartzell said of the deceased person he found. "It could be a million different things. Why for 10 years didn't we know?"