Passerby finds human jawbone on secluded Nantucket beach. Officials now investigating

A human jawbone was found on a beach in Nantucket, an upscale island getaway off the coast of Massachusetts, prompting an investigation, state officials said.

A passerby plucked the bone from the sand on Wauwinet Beach, a secluded strip on the northern tip of the island, on Monday, Feb. 13, Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Russell Eonas told McClatchy News.

Detectives with the Massachusetts State Police and the district attorney’s office have opened an investigation into the matter, Eonas said.

The bone, known as a mandible, was intact and distinguished by two dental implants, Dr. Tim Lepore, a family physician and the island’s medical examiner, told McClatchy News.

“This person obviously had expensive dental work with these implants,” Lepore told the Cape Cod Times. “They took care of their teeth, so there’s dental X-rays somewhere ... and they can be identified by regular dentist records because it will show up.”

Officials hope the remains can be identified, so they can bring closure to the family of the deceased, Lepore said.

This isn’t the first time body parts have been found on the beaches of Nantucket.

The skeletal remains of a human leg washed ashore on the island in 2010, according to the Cape Cod Times.

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