AUGUST 15, 2006 - Posted at 2:24 p.m. CDT

CARUTHERSVILLE, MO - A construction crew in Caruthersville made a grisly discovery this morning while working on a sewer line at the city's Methodist Church.

According to City Marshal Chris Riggs, the backhoe operator struck what was originally thought to be a cast iron sewer pipe at approximately 9 a.m.  Upon further investigation, contractors learned that they had unearthed a cast iron burial vault.  The backhoe damaged the vault, revealing human remains inside. 

Riggs says no tombstone marked the site where the work was being done, but upon further investigaion, police learned that the construction site was once home to the city's only cemetery in the early 1800s.  Riggs says over a period of time, "some of the tombstones were moved and placed together on the church property and other tombstones disappeared over the years."

Riggs says the construction crew re-buried the vault.