By Rebecca Cohen -
NBC News
Two arms and a leg were found this Thursday morning in a park on Long Island, New York, and police are now investigating how those human remains got to the scene.
A student was heading to school in the Long Island town of Babylon around 8:40 a.m. ET when
she discovered a “severed left arm”
at the east end of the Southards Park pond off the boulevard. Siegel, the Suffolk County Police Department said in a news release.
The student then called her father, who went to the park before calling 911.
Suffolk police investigate the discovery of body parts in a park in Babylon, New York, on February 29, 2024. NBC New York
A cadaver dog found a leg in a pile of leaves on the west side of the park, police said.
The animal, after sniffing the east side of the park, found a right arm about 20 feet from where the left arm was initially discovered, authorities said.
NBC New York reported that
the leg was found about two kilometers from the left arm
and not far from an elementary school.
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The superintendent of the Babylon Unified School District indicated in a letter to parents that students at the school could not go out for recess while police investigated the crime scene, according to NBC New York.
Mental health resources were also allocated to serve the center's students who needed it.
Police said the remains found at the east end of the park – both arms – appear to be that of a man.
The limbs appeared to have been recently thrown away, police said, according to NBC New York.
Authorities hope to identify body parts using DNA and examining tattoos.
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Police did not rule out the possibility that
the incident could be gang-related
, the station reported.
Police also declined to say whether all the body parts are from the same person or how the victim might have died.