Seashell hunt turns creepy when woman finds human jawbone on beach, Florida cops say

Seashell hunts often result in unexpected finds, but one Florida woman is being credited with uncovering a mystery when she stumbled onto human remains at the beach.

The stray jawbone was found Feb. 14 on Captiva Island, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Captiva Island is along the state’s Gulf Coast, about 165 miles south of Tampa.

An investigation is underway and among the many unanswered questions are who the mandible belonged to and whether a crime was committed, officials say.

Rebecca Dodds of Lehigh Acres found the bone around 10:30 a.m., while collecting shells along Captiva Drive, the sheriff’s office said.

“Once she got to her residence, she was advised one of the items she collected was a human mandible,” a report states. “Dodds then called law enforcement.”

The jaw remains largely intact, but is heavily abraded, hinting it may be old.

Dodds told station WINK she initially thought it was part of a marine mammal, perhaps a whale bone, but then her son pointed out something: It has a molar tooth in it.

She’s now hoping experts can use that tooth to cull DNA and come up with an identify.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office says it is working with a medical examiner to determine an origin.

“At this time, information is very limited. More often than not, investigations of this nature are lengthy due to many moving parts and entities involved,” the sheriff’s office told McClatchy News.