An anonymous tip-off lead police to an abandoned ramshackle shed – and inside, there was a horror discovery
Mystery surrounds the discovery of human remains found in an abandoned shed just across the road from a prison.
Police were given an anonymous tip-off that the disused wooden shed, covered in weeds and buried in shrubbery, contained a dead body, and when they went to investigate, officers stumbled upon the skeletal remains of a man convicted of sex crimes who had not been seen in almost two years.
Analysis on the bones identified them as Michael Schilz, a 59-year-old fugitive who had been wanted by New Hampshire Department of Corrections since 2023 for repeatedly violating his parole.
Corrections staff had even named him Fugitive of the Week in a bid to make him step forward, after he was convicted in 2005 of aggravated felonious sexual assault on a minor. He had served time in prison but was released in December 2021, drifting around the town of Concord homeless.
Schilz was on the state sex offenders register as ‘unhoused’, but he was never reported as missing to Concord Police. The shed, which sits across the street from the state prison, is in full sight of residential homes but had been left abandoned for years while nature reclaimed it.
Lt. Thomas Yerkes of the Concord Police Department’s Bureau of Investigations said the cause of death is yet to be determined. “The body of the deceased subject appeared to have been within the shed for an extended period of time,” Concord Police said in a statement, adding that the remains could have been there for years.
“The remains were transported to the Concord Hospital, where an autopsy was scheduled.” An investigation has been launched, and police have asked the public to come forward with any information they might have about Schilz.
The convicted sex offender had a warrant issued for his arrest in May 2023 after he was accused of absconding from the supervision of his parole probation officer.
Six months later, the Department of Corrections posted a ‘wanted’ poster featuring the balding pervert, who stared blankly into the camera with a grey beard.
But there was no sign of Schilz and nobody came forward with his whereabouts until the new owner of the shed came across the horrifying discovery and tipped off Concord Police on April 21.
In the USA, sex offenders are forced to sign a register, which is open for anyone to look at, to keep tabs on their location.
Offenders must periodically renew their registration with their local law enforcement authority, and failing to do so can carry heavy penalties, including being recalled to prison.