Asklemmy

Call 911, tell them where it is, explain that you found a trash bag somewhere and you're concerned it has a dead body in it, don't disturb it any more than you already have

I work in 911 dispatch, from my end of things this is a very straightforward call. Verify your location, one or two short lines of notes, send a cop out to check it out.

I've taken a few calls like this, luckily it's always just been trash or at worst a dead animal.

One time the responding officer found some bones in the bag and was pretty sure they weren't human, but called out our on-call coroner to be sure who confirmed that it was just a deer or something.

Similarly I once had a call from an off-duty coroner reporting a "strong smell of decomp" from the woods near a gas station or something. I guess if anyone would know it would be them. Sent a cop out, sure enough, it was a dead deer.

It's very rare that anything like this is ever as exciting as your imagination makes you think it might be. Still, always better to call if you're unsure.

OP killed a guy and thinks this is gonna be part of their cover story

911, what's your emergency?

I found a dead body on the side of the road.

Where are you? I'm sending police to you now.

Uhh, I touched it.

OK, don't do that. Do you have hand sanitizer?

I may have eaten some.

...

Also, I tripped. I may have slipped inside.

What does that mean?

I...completed.

Listen just stay where you are, police are on their way.

At the very least, OP, dumping garbage by the road is against the law, so even if it's just regular garbage, you are reporting a crime regardless. Bonus: a cop has to deal with someone else's garbage.

Seriously?

Phone the cops. Now.

I called to report a possible body in a bag to the police.

But if I had gotten a random “Gonna pray for you” comment about me poking the bag, I would shut my mouth and move on with life as if I’d never seen the bag.

Yeah there are non-emergency police numbers other than 911. I also say phone it in.

I have to know - was this in Knoxville?

So I did call the non-emergency phone number. Could be a waste of time for the cops or whatever. What I was doing is walking to Burger King to get a Whooper I walked 5 miles there and 5 miles back home found it on my way home.

The person said they'd pray for you because they thought you were a dumpster diver i.e. that you were gonna eat out of the trash so that's what happened there. And so... It was also probably just a bag of food waste going gnarly.

It's actually really funny to me that a cop has to go look in the funky bag. That's a better use of their time than a lot of things they get up to of a day. Nice one!

In my state you can shoot, butcher, and then dispose of all of the waste (bones, skin, etc) from a deer directly into the trash. My first thought would have been, assuming you feel bones inside, that it's from hunting.

It was probably just full of garbage (which is also "limp" and attracts flies) and the idea of some cop having to cut it open and go through it because you called it in is sort of funny.

With that said, I have wondered about similar things. One time I saw a guy I thought might be dead but I waited a few minutes, he moved a little, and I figured he was probably just very drunk so I left. Another time I did go tell an NYC cop that there was a guy lying on the ground in the middle of a busy street, and the cop didn't seem to care. Maybe I should have called 911 instead but I didn't want to be officially associated with the situation.

My friend found a tent on his property. It had mold on one side of it, a horrible smell and basically a black cloud of flies. He tried to open it but the stench was so bad he just called the police.

A similar situation happened to me! DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING Call the non emergency number! If they are annoyed that they came out and it winds up being garbage, who cares? At least you didn't ignore something potentially very important.

In my case, it was a suitcase that had duct tape around it. That showed up overnight. I called local cops first that sent guys out that seemed bored, honestly. And my heart was racing as I answered questions. When they opened the bag, it had ripped clothes and a half used roll of duct tape. The local PD literally said "well, we don't have a crime we can match this to." They started to leave without the bag and I was confused why they wouldn't at least take it for evidence? I have watched too many episodes of CSI, cold case etc and was freaking out. They left. I guess they just want to make money on traffic stops.

I couldn't leave the situation there, and a friend knew someone in the State Police. After a few phone calls I got in touch with a detective. Who was very confused that the local cops had handled the situation like that. He arrived and took the bag into evidence and got my information. As far as I know, nothing ever came of it.

And don't forget to update us on the outcome!

I would suggest calling the city or county and reporting suspicious dumping. It could be a body. It could be a rotting animal carcass. It could have toxic chemicals in it.

You don't need to suspect that it's a body to call the city and report what looks like dangerous dumping.