Two young people hunting near the Steele Bayou dam structure found what appeared to be a human bone inside of an old boot on Monday morning.

The two reported the finding to Vicksburg Warren 911, which dispatched Warren County Sheriff’s deputies to the scene at about 7:15 a.m.

The deputies determined that the location was inside Issaquena County lines and notified the Issaquena County Sheriff’s Office. Issaquena County Sheriff Waye Windham and Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace were both on the scene with deputies from their agencies.

Windham contacted the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation for further assistance. The item was collected by the Issaquena County Coroner and will be transported to the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory for analysis.

“There’s no way to say conclusively that these were human remains without the analysis of the crime lab,” Pace said.

Pace added that the boot and bone appeared to have been there “a long time.”

“The Warren County Sheriff’s Office will assist Issaquena County in any way that we can, but we will all have to wait on the crime lab’s analysis before we move forward,” he said.

The Vicksburg Post will provide more information as it becomes available.