Jaw bone discovered in Bastrop County

BASTROP COUNTY, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - A Bastrop County man said he found a human jaw bone in the Colorado River. The bone was turned over to the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office Sunday night. 

“Never found human bones before. That was a first for me,” said Remington Werner, who made the discovery near Bob Bryant Park.  

It wasn't Werner’s first time in that part of the Colorado River. 

“Depending on the river level, sometimes there is no sandbar there and sometimes there is, and, so, right now, the water's really low and so there's a big area that's exposed. It's just dry,” Werner said.  

Sunday, after spending time in the water, Remington took a stroll on the sandbar. That's when he spotted something unusual next to his foot. 

“It was just sitting there, just barely nestled into the pebbles,” said Werner.  

“I picked it up and looked at it a little, carefully rinsed it off in the water a little bit, and, ‘Oh, yeah, that's human teeth for sure,’” he added.  

Remington said he marked the location of the bone with a stick before searching for any other evidence. 

“We walked around and went on the sandbar looking to see if we could find any other bones, or any other remains, or anything, and there's nothing,” Werner said.  

Remington said he hopes his discovery helps the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office dig up some answers of their own. 

“When I first saw it, I thought this could be a missing persons case or something, or might give someone some closure, or help a crime scene, or something like that. So, yeah, I definitely called it in,” said Werner.  

The sheriff's office said they have asked the Lower Colorado River Authority to search the area. They wouldn't confirm that the bone is in fact a human jaw, but Remington said he has no doubt that it is.