EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — Authorities are investigating after human remains were found in a vacant East Cleveland lot on June 3.
According to the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office, deputies executed a search warrant in the 14200 block of Potomac Avenue over the weekend in relation to a search for a missing woman from Warrensville Heights.
Their investigation later led to a second search warrant being executed on Strathmore Avenue in East Cleveland, where deputies found human remains in a backyard, authorities said.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was called in to assist with processing the scene. The sheriff's office said East Cleveland police and firefighters, as well as officers from the Cleveland Heights Police Department and members of the Cleveland Metroparks K-9 unit, also assisted.
John McLemore lives near the Potomac Avenue property searched Saturday morning. He said the house had been abandoned for years before it caught fire several months ago.
“They were digging up the rest of the house that burned down next door and they were obviously looking for something. I don’t know what they found or what they were looking for, but they were out here half the day,” he said, recalling investigators bagging up pieces of what appeared to be clothing.
Monday afternoon, Sheriff's deputies were still coming and going at the Strathmore Avenue property, placing markers in the overgrown vegetation behind an abandoned home.
“About like 12, 11 police cars pulled up behind the sheriff and stuff. And that’s when they brought the K-9 dog, and they started searching this abandoned building,” said neighbor Johnny Luster about the overnight investigation.
Both neighbors said it was disturbing to hear of the human remains found in the neighborhood but not totally surprising.
“There’s family members out here that’s losing their loved ones,” Luster said.
McLemore added, “People are doing things they shouldn’t be doing and they’re using abandoned houses to do them in.”
In late May, the badly decomposed body of a 53-year-old man was discovered behind an abandoned funeral home around the corner from where McLemore lives. He told News 5 it's frustrating to see the crime and tragedies tied to his hometown.
“It seems like they’re finding a lot of bodies in East Cleveland. And it’s just sad because whatever’s going on, they’re using East Cleveland to do it,” he said.
The remains found Monday morning were taken to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office to be identified.
No further information has been released.
