Infant remains discovered at the Wewa Burger King construction site
UPDATE WED. 5 P.M.:
According to a relase from the GCSO, a preliminary report from the Medical Examiner’s Office is expected tomorrow, Thursday, June 2.
Additional work at the site is scheduled for tomorrow, when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will search the site with a ground penetrating
radar.
“We will do everything we can to try and unravel this mystery,” said Sheriff Mike Harrison.
“We want to eliminate the possibly of any additional grave sites,” Harrison said.
UPDATE WED. 4 P.M.:
Investigators with GCSO and the FDLE will return to the scene tomorrow morning.
UPDATE WED. 1 P.M.:
The medical examiner began an autopsy of the infant’s body on Wednesday. GCSO says they are awaiting more information.
Investigators are on the scene using cadaver k-9s to search for any further evidence or remains.
PREVIOUS REPORT:
Unidentified infant remains were discovered at the construction site for Wewahitchka’s new Burger King on Tuesday.
The Gulf County Sheriff’s Office received a call at approximately 2:47 p.m. about the discovery of possible human remains at the site, which is near the intersection of State Road 71 and Chipola Avenue.
The remains were described as “mummified,” a term applied to remains that appear to have been preserved, often by environmental and weather conditions.
The preliminary investigation revealed the mummified remains of an infant were discovered by workers in a mound of dirt.
Due to the nature of the remains, investigatiors were not initially able to determine an exact length of time the infant had been deceased.
Gulf County Sheriff Mike Harrison said Sheriff’s Office investigators are working with the Medical Examiner’s Office for the 14th Judicial Circuit and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in the effort to pinpoint more details.
Construction crews halted work at the construction site Tuesday afternoon, and the scene has been taped off by GCSO.
This is a developing story. This report will be updated as more information becomes available.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.