Hundreds of piles of human remains have now been recovered after being found littered across a desert just outside of Las Vegas.
Authorities said the investigation into the startling discovery 'remains active', three months after a man first stumbled across the scene close to the remote town of Searchlight, Nevada.
The unnamed individual encountered the macabre mounds - which reportedly contained bone fragments and remnants of burnt flesh - near a dirt track on 28 July this year.
He raised the alarm and alerted authorities, prompting the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to launch a probe into where they came from.
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In August, investigators said that cable ties were also found among some of the piles, while a broken urn was also recovered from the area.
These factors led authorities to believe that the piles may have been the ashes of deceased individuals, which may have been dumped in the desert by a local funeral home.
According to state law, it is not illegal to scatter the ashes of a loved one on public land.
However, the BLM prohibits businesses from depositing cremated remains on federal land for commercial purposes.
Officials said that in total, there were 315 piles of human remains found in the desert.
A local funeral home, Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries, respectfully helped recover the ashes earlier this week, which have since been placed in individual urns.
The remains are now set to be housed in a crypt at a cemetery in southern Nevada so that people will be able to pay their respects.
Celena DiLullo, the president of Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries, told 8 News Now: "‘I think most of us just felt like, what a shame.
"I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left. It’s important to our community and our profession that we demonstrate how much we do care about these people.
"I don’t know if it was the wishes of these people to be out, so that’s kind of what goes through my mind.
"If this is not how they would want to be remembered, we would just want to have a place for them to be."
Currently, it remains unclear who is responsible for dumping the ashes.
A spokesperson for BLM Peters said that the probe remains ongoing.
In a statement to News 3 on Friday (31 October), BLM said: "This remains an active investigation, and we don't have additional information to provide at this time."
Olivia Burke