Human hand found by dog in Staten Island forest came from local cemetery: Sources

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Saturday, March 11, 2023
Human hand found by dog in Staten Island came from cemetery: Sources
Officials say that fingerprint analysis pinpointed the hand to a woman who died in 2011. She was 63-years-old when she was buried in the nearby Resurrection Ceremony.

STATEN ISLAND (WABC) -- Officials have released more details about the gruesome discovery made by a dog on Staten Island.

While a man was walking his dog on Thursday afternoon, the dog found a human hand in the North Mount Loretto State Forest.

Officials say that fingerprint analysis pinpointed the hand to a woman who died in 2011. She was 63-years-old when she was buried in the nearby Resurrection Ceremony.

The plot next to this woman's grave was excavated on February 27 for a new burial. That excavation damaged her casket, which could have displaced her hand in the process.

Officials suspect animals are to blame for the hand showing up in a nearby park, where the dog scratched and sniffed the ground to uncover it.

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