Human skull found in Louisville's Portland neighborhood, police say

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A human skull was found Thursday afternoon in the Portland neighborhood.

Homicide and arson investigators left the site just before 4 Thursday afternoon after the crew hired to clean up debris believe they found a human skull in the middle of what used to be a building.

"And I had a couple of employees sifting through brick to get the trash out of it, and one of them happen across it," Marvin Greenfield of Right Way Hauling said.

The building or what is left of it, is in the 1600 block of Northwestern Parkway, which is the north end of 16th Street. In December 2023, the building burned to the ground.

The fire was so intense the heat from the flames peeled the paint from the steel under the interstate. The fire department was forced to halt traffic on Interstate 64 east for a short time.

At the time, Louisville Fire said there were a number of homeless camps in the area, and this was the second fire in this building. But they said they didn't believe anyone was in the building.

Recently, the building was torn down, and Right Way Hauling was hired to clean up the debris. The company had just started working on moving the debris when the skull was found. Investigators spent several hours sifting through the debris.

"That is what they are doing now, sifting through to see if they can find any more human remains or parts of the body," said Greenfield.

A death investigation is underway, and the skull was taken to the Medical Examiner's office to try and determine the exact cause of death.

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