Human Remains Found in Iowa Landfill Aren't Human After All Says Sheriff

Well, that's a relief.

Iowa landfill workers made a disturbing discovery over the weekend in the form of what was believed to be a human femur.

But the thigh bone was actually fake.

On Saturday, employees at the dump called authorities after finding the femur. The Clinton County Sheriff’s Office and Clinton Police Department officers responded and took custody of the bone. A 30-member search team then combed the landfill, looking for other remains.

The State Medical Examiner's office took over from there, and a forensic anthropologist tested the item and determined it was actually a "medical replica” of a human femur that was "made to look as real as possible, from casts of actual bones," the sheriff's office announced Tuesday.

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