A human jawbone found last month along the Mississippi River in Monroe County is being tested for identification.

Monroe County Coroner Bob Hill told the Republic-Times that human remains were discovered Dec. 19 by a person who owns adjacent property next to the Mississippi River. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department received a call on that date from a property owner who found what appeared to be a human jawbone and dispatched the coroner’s office to the scene.

“The person made the discovery of the human remains when walking the channel of the river,” Hill said. “They were able to walk this area due to the unusually low river levels.”

Hill said the bone was confirmed by a forensic anthropologist to be a human lower mandible.

This bone was sent to North Texas University for DNA analysis.

“Our main goal is to identify who the remains belong to in order to provide closure for the loved ones of the deceased,” Hill said.

The hope is to tie together this recent find with additional human remains discovered along the river in other area counties, the coroner explained.