Joseph Milligan “thought he hit the motherlode” when he happened upon a rectangular box in a Wal-Mart bag laying in the weeds next to the Port Charlotte, Florida, canal.

“It was this big gold thing,” the 17 year old said of the box. He hoped he would open it and find gold. What he found instead were the remains of one Recardo G. Williams, who had been cremated in 1993.

Residents of the area say people throw things into that canal all the time, and Milligan admitted he’d heard of people sprinkling ashes in the water, but thought it “a bit queer” that someone would toss a whole urn in.

Williams’ identity was easily determined thanks to a death certificate that was also found in the bag, and Charlotte County police are trying to locate the man’s relatives. Though unsuccessful so far, Sgt. Joseph Marinola assured the community that the department is “not putting it on the back burner.” :

» Scott Saxon