The Park County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information about a possible gravesite that was recently reported on Polecat Bench, north of Powell.

A white, homemade metal cross bearing the name “Morgan” marks the site, sitting toward one end of a pile of sandstone rocks. It’s located on private property that's a couple miles off of Wyo. Highway 294.

The landowner across the site on Aug. 12 and the sheriff’s office has been working since then to determine who — if anyone — is buried there. Part of those efforts involved deploying search and rescue cadaver detection dogs. The dogs indicated “that there may be human remains in the grave,” Lance Mathess, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said in a Friday news release.

Authorities could theoretically excavate the site to check for remains, but “we’ll have to see where the investigation takes us” before taking that step, Mathess said.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone with information about the possible grave to contact their office at 307-754-8700.

In addition to the name Morgan, the cross bears two sets of numerals: an 88 on the left side and an 03 on the right side. It’s unknown as to whether those numbers reflect years of birth and death, Mathess said. No obituaries in the Powell Tribune’s archives appear to match that information.

A necklace chain attached to the cross holds one large ring, apparently made for a male, and other rings, possibly designed for a female, Mathess said.

“The rings were very tarnished due to being exposed to the elements,” he said in the release.

Similarly, Mathess said that “the grave appears to have been created some time ago, due to animals burrowing into the stones.”

Under Wyoming law, it is legal to bury a person on private property — if you own the land. Additionally, “you must take the human remains with you when you vacate the property,” Mathess said. It’s also legal to bury a pet or animal on your own property, he said, though in that case, you don’t have to remove the remains when you sell the land.

The gravesite isn't the only out-of-place item to be reported on Polecat Bench in recent months; a Powell resident recently came across multiple swatiskas laid out with rocks on the bench overlooking Powell. He said he reported the "despicable signs of hate" to the sheriff's office.

— By CJ Baker