The out-of-town surveyor who found human remains in south Augusta on Friday has posted images of the skull along with harrowing details of the discovery.
Nathan Lee Barton, 43, a veteran surveyor from Lakeland, Georgia, said he has always joked that he might find a body someday in his line of work. And that day was Friday.
“I was doing a land survey at a (Chevron) gas station in Augusta, GA and had only found one property corner, so expanded my search to neighbors,” Barton wrote on his Facebook page. “Lot of homeless in the area, so I made a short video of the descent downhill into this weird area I had to go into.”
During a third video, he noticed the skull, located off a patch of land on the 2200 block of Highland Avenue. Authorities would later find most of the entire body, including the ribs and a lower jaw with teeth that may help with identification.
THE VIDEO is shown below, showing the skull. A picture of the skull follows below the video.
The surveyor says he noticed the skull in his peripheral vision when he was about seven feet away. “Since I was jammed in some bamboo at that moment, the video was taken looking over my own shoulder. Like I didn’t want to budge,” he said.
In an interview on Friday night, Barton said he struggled to find his way through the property to do his work, winding his way through bamboo thicket. Before the shocking skull discovery, he stumbled upon a burned-out shed that looked like a fire had happened inside.
“I had no idea there was a skull 50 feet away,” said Barton, who works for Blew & Associates, an Arkansas-based company. He’s been doing surveying for 18 years.
He spoke to officers and they talked about how the skull looked like that of a young adult or small person. They also guessed it was at least five years old, although they didn’t know for sure.
But Coroner Mark Bowen said Friday night that there is no way to know the sex or build of the person based on what they found. He plans to consult anthropologists in his efforts to find the person’s identity and a cause of death.
That comes as Richmond County sheriff’s investigators work their side of the mystery. They have reportedly begun receiving calls from people wondering if the body could be their loved ones.
Answers will take some time. “It’s going to be a long process,” the coroner said.
To see Barton’s videos and post about his discovery, visit his Facebook page under the name Nathan Lee Barton, a page that describes him as a musician and land surveyor.
Barton said he will likely be back in Augusta again since yellow crime scene tape blocked him from completing his job after the discovery was reported.
“They told me to finish the job next week,” he said.
