Human leg found near Big Dam Bridge

Little Rock police were investigating after a detached human leg with a shoe on it was found in the Arkansas River near the Big Dam Bridge on Saturday morning.

Officer Richard Hilgeman said a Pulaski County coroner had picked up the leg by Saturday afternoon and that a medical examiner would run tests to find out more information and try to determine whom it belonged to.

“I don’t know how long it’s been in the water,” he said. “It will be at least a few days before the medical examiner can give us any kind of information.”

They can determine the sex of the person, he said, based on size of the bones.

On the south side of the Big Dam Bridge on Saturday afternoon, investigators discussed the matter as a Pulaski County sheriff’s office boat searched near the Murray Lock and Dam. A few yards away, a man repeatedly placed a net into the water in an attempt to catch bait so he could go fishing.

The man said he saw no human remains during his attempt to catch bait and then walked farther east along the river to fish.

Hilgeman said someone who was near Murray Lock and Dam called police Saturday morning after seeing the leg. Hilgeman said he did not know whether the leg had been floating down the river or was found along the bank.

He said the Police Department had no reports of anyone reported missing near any of the Arkansas River bridges in the city.

The sheriff’s office, Little Rock police, the Little Rock Fire Department and Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to the call, sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Ted Haase said.