SEDALIA, Mo. – The Pettis County Sheriff is investigating after human remains were found outside a residence just south of Sedalia, Mo., on Sunday afternoon.
Police said around 2:30 p.m. Sunday deputies were called to the Goodwill Chapel Trailer Park located in the 26000 block of Goodwill Chapel Road.
Neighbors told FOX 4’s Robert Townsend on Monday the landlord of the trailer had evicted the resident last week. When the landlord and her grandson checked on the property on Sunday, they smelled a foul odor.
Shortly after, the landlord and the grandson found the human remains inside a metal bin in front of the trailer, outside by the door. Other parts were found across the street in the woods.
“It was actually two arms and a leg and what looked to me to be a decomposed nose without the flesh on it,” said Jeremy Faulk, amaintenance worker who saw the parts in the bin by the residence.
He can’t forget the decomposing hand.
“The tips looked like they had been decomposed. You could see the bones coming out from the tips,” he said.
Police would not confirm this information. They said they could not determine without an autopsy whether the body parts were that of a man or a woman.
Cadaver dogs were brought in to search the area. Deputies wearing gloves on their hands were seen removing evidence from the trailer, including women’s clothing and a mattress that appeared to be stained with blood. The sheriff also says they removed a shovel and a pickaxe from the scene.
The last tenant of the trailer was 65-year-old man named Joseph Arbeiter. He has not been named a suspect. However, he is a suspect in another crime. Last Wednesday deputies arrested him for the attempted rape of a neighbor at a trailer down the street.
Arbeiter is charged with assault, sodomy, and attempted rape, as well as armed criminal action and tampering with a victim.
“Well, at this point and time we’re considering this a suspicious death investigation. We’re trying to concentrate on gathering as much evidence and intelligence as we can,” said Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond.
The remains were transported to the Boone County Medical Examiners Office where an autopsy is scheduled to be conducted on Wednesday.
Some parents expressed concern for the safety of their children after hearing about the investigation.
“I don’t want my children to go to the bus without me,” Tracie Karigan, resident, said. “I want to know that they’re getting on that bus and they are safe, and that’s because of all this that’s going on now.”
Karigan said she grew up in Sedalia and has never been afraid — until now.
“It used to be where we could leave our doors unlocked,” she said, adding that she’s in a state of shock.
“I’m not angry,” she said. “I’ve got like this disbelief because you turn on the news and you hear about it in Kansas City. There was a shooting here, there was something found there, but you’ve never heard of it in the little town of Sedalia. Sedalia isn’t as sweet and innocent as it used to be. It’s getting crazy.”
The Crash Investigation Team from the Missouri State Highway Patrol is assisting in the investigation.
Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to contact the Pettis County Crime Stoppers TIPS Hotline at 660-827-TIPS, or call the Pettis County Sheriff’s Office at 660-827-0052.
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