A Florida woman found a decomposing human head by the roadside where she was jogging

• Florida authorities are investigating after a jogger ran past a decomposing human head on Tuesday.
• Police are investigating how long the head was there — they said the jogger hadn't seen it on a previous run two days earlier.
• It's still unclear when or how the victim died, or who the person was.

A jogger out on her morning run spotted a decomposing human head near a roadside in St. Petersburg, Florida, according to authorities.

The St. Petersburg Police Department said in a statement that the jogger reported the grisly sight near an intersection around 7 a.m. on July 7, and authorities immediately began investigating "the discovery of human remains."

Police spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez told The Tampa Bay Times that the head was too decayed to immediately distinguish the person's gender or race.

"A lot of people might have thought it was just an animal but [the jogger] perceived it really did look like a human," Fernandez told the newspaper.

Investigators are searching for more human remains in the vicinity, she added. It's not clear how long the head was near the roadway. The jogger told police she jogged past that same area two days before her discovery and didn't see the head.

Fernandez told CNN that investigators didn't believe the person actually died at the scene, and said a medical examiner is working to discern the victim's time of death.

She added that investigators are searching through their missing person files, but will likely need to know the person's age or gender before being able to identify the remains.

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