Police find remains of three children in Memphis vacant field

Memphis police said the remains of three children were found in a vacant field in Hickory Hill, turning a March tip about a possible skull into a case that now hinges on identification, possible family notification, and whether a long-unresolved crime may have gone unnoticed for years. Chief C.J. Davis said officers recovered two skulls and 14 additional bones, and the Medical Examiner’s Office determined the remains were juveniles between the ages of 3 and 7. Police said there was no active threat to the public.

The investigation began on March 8 after an anonymous caller reported what appeared to be a human skull in a wooded area in the 3400 block of Ridge Meadow Parkway, near Ridgeway Road and Winchester Road in southeast Memphis. Canine units alerted investigators to a nearby drainage pipe on March 10. On March 16, investigators inspected the drainage system with a camera. On April 1, they found what appeared to be another skull, and the next day they recovered 14 more bones consistent with human remains.

Authorities believe the remains had been at the scene for a few years, a detail that sharply complicates the effort to identify the children and determine how they died. Police said the remains have not been matched to any Memphis missing-person reports. That leaves investigators searching for links to cases beyond city records, while also trying to establish whether the deaths were ever reported elsewhere.

The FBI, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, and Shelby County Homeland Security Management are assisting Memphis police as crews continue a grid search for additional evidence. The federal ViCAP program, used to help investigate unidentified human remains and other violent crimes, underscores why the case has drawn national attention. In Hickory Hill, a neighbor said the field is regularly maintained and that no one had reported smelling anything or seeing a body there, adding to concerns about how the remains went undiscovered.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH. For now, the search has shifted from discovery to identification, with investigators working to put names to three small sets of remains that may have lain hidden in southeast Memphis for years.