Advertisement

Dead human fetus found in pump at Kentucky sewer plant

A dead human fetus was found in Paintsville on Thursday morning.

The body was found at the Paintsville Wastewater Treatment Plant and was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort for an autopsy, J.R. Frisby, the Johnson County coroner, told the Herald-Leader.

Staff at the sewer plant told the Paintsville Police Department that what appeared to be a fetus had “come up through their pumps,” Bill Ramey, the assistant chief at the department, told the Paintsville Herald.

“We responded over there, they took me up to where the pump was at, and there was one there,” Ramey told the local newspaper. “I contacted the coroner and they came out and retrieved it. They’re getting ready to send it to Frankfort and see if they can get some DNA back on it.”

The cause of death couldn’t immediately be determined, Frisby said.

Ramey estimated that the fetus was three to four months into gestation.

“I’ve been doing this for 27 years and that’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this,” Ramey said. “We’re still trying to put pieces together.”

This story may be updated.