Sheriff says skeleton found buried in Sacramento backyard

SACRAMENTO - The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department is investigating a human skeleton found in a suburban backyard.

The department says workers helping renovate a vacant home northeast of downtown Sacramento found some of the bones surfacing from the ground the day after Christmas.

Over the past two days, investigators unearthed an entire human skeleton.

Investigators haven't released the identity of the buried person or the cause of death but they're treating it as a suspicious death.

The area is located within a few blocks of a neighborhood park and an elementary school.