Human remains found on Long Island road; arms, leg discovered

BABYLON, N.Y. - A group of Long Island high school students found a left arm on the side of a Suffolk County road on their way to school Thursday, police said.

The arm was discovered on Thursday just before 9 a.m. on Siegel Boulevard in Babylon.

The gruesome discovery wasn’t far from a park in the Village of Babylon. It led police to a large search of the area. A K9 and its handler also found a leg sticking up from a pile of leaves.

At this point police aren’t identifying who the arm and leg belonged to or whether it was the same person.

"One of the students who discovered it, called her father who determined it was an arm on the side of the road, and he called 911," said Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer with the Suffolk County Homicide Squad.

"[It] doesn’t appear to be there a long time," Beyrer said. "Students do come down this block, we will check to see if it was seen yesterday but it appears to be recent."

According to police, as officers investigated the crime scene, a canine unit located a leg sticking out of a pile of leaves in a wooded area, not far from the original scene.

Local parents were informed of the grisly discovery.

"Many of you may have already seen media coverage about the nature of the crime scene investigation taking place near our elementary and grade schools. This is an extremely unsettling incident to occur in any community let alone so close to our schools," a school district spokesperson said in a statement.

Elementary and grade school recesses were moved indoors Thursday. The district noted that mental health resources for students are available.

"The safety and mental health of our students is our number one priority, and we know this incident may be causing some extreme anxiety among our students, particularly the high school students who were directly affected by this situation on their way to school this morning," the statement read.

The Babylon School District kept students inside during recess.

The police department is treating the investigation as a homicide. Anyone with information is asked to call Suffolk Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly reported that the student who found the arm was in elementary school.