Human remains found under street near Sunset Heights

Photo by Miguel Paredes – KTSM

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Human remains were found Friday, May 31 near the Sunset Heights neighborhood at a site believed to be an old cemetery, according to the El Paso Police Department (EPPD).

At 12:35 p.m. Friday, officers responded to Prospect and Porfirio Diaz streets following a call for public assistance because workers had found human remains while working on the road with an excavator, according to EPPD.

EPPD said they are “aware” that the area is an old cemetery.

An article published by the El Paso County Historical Society stated that a cemetery was established in downtown El Paso in 1882.

The cemetery was located in Mundy Heights (near Sunset Heights), probably at or near where Mundy Park now stands, according to the article.

The article explains that there is not much information about the cemetery. However, according to Lone Star, one of El Paso's “premier” newspapers, the city purchased 1.5 acres from HM Mundy for $75.

“The land was approximately 3/4 mile west of Sunset Heights Reservoir (which is located near the intersection of River and Randolph). And it was ill-suited for use as a cemetery,” the article read.

“Very serious complaints are coming to us concerning the new cemetery established by the town on the hill west of the aqueduct,” wrote the Lone Star on September 9, 1882. “The soil is a loose gravel in which it is claimed that It is then impossible to dig a decent grave. Several burials were delayed, after the arrival of the corpse and the funeral procession at the cemetery, by the collapse of the walls of the tomb and the covering of the box provided at the bottom of the tomb to receive the coffin, the coffins had to be kept waiting. mourners until the grave can be cleaned.

Crimes Against Persons is investigating the incident, according to EPPD.