Authorities in Colorado are working to identify the "heavily decomposed" remains of three bodies found at a remote campsite in the Rocky Mountains earlier this week.
A hiker discovered one of the bodies around 4:57 p.m. on July 9 and contacted the Gunnison County Sheriff's Office, whose investigators discovered two more bodies in the area the next morning, the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post.
The partially mummified bodies may have been there since before the winter, but investigators won't know a potential timeline until after autopsies are completed, Gunnison County Sheriff Adam Murdie told TODAY.com. Investigators also don’t know how the three died.
"I’ve been doing this business for 26 years now, and we’ve never had three people in a campsite deceased like this at all," Murdie said. "Occasionally you have one person out camping who dies, or a couple guys out hunting in a camper who are killed from carbon monoxide (poisoning), but nothing like this have I seen yet."
With the autopsies still pending, authorities estimated the three people may have died before this winter due to the amount of decomposition, Murdie said.
“This is not typical at all,” he said.
One body was found just outside a tent in a heavily wooded site near the Gold Creek Campground in Gunnison National Forest, police said. The other two were found inside the tent.
Investigators did not find anything at the scene that would indicate the deceased were victims of violence, but the autopsy will indicate if there was any foul play, Murdie said.
The autopsy in Grand Junction, Colorado, could take several weeks, Murdie said.
There are no known risks to people in the campground area, police said.