Mystery Deepens After Bodies Are Found Partially Buried In 'Jekyll-Hyde Park'

Authorities in central Ohio have a mystery on their hands -- two bodies, found partially buried, in a recreation area that locals have dubbed "Jekyll-Hyde Park." It's a find that has prompted a large-scale search of the grounds for additional human remains.

"The remains [were found] in close proximity to each other," a spokeswoman for the Columbus Police Department told The Huffington Post on Monday. "[Investigators] are still out there and they're checking out everything."

The first body, discovered on Thursday, has been identified as 17-year-old Wilson Omar Villeda. According to Franklin County Coroner Anahi Ortiz, the condition of the second body, which was badly decomposed, has made it impossible to immediately identify the age, gender or race of the individual.

"It could take quite a while for results – I'm talking weeks," Ortiz told HuffPost.

Authorities have not revealed how long it will take them to search Innis Park for additional bodies.

The City of Columbus describes the 97-acre recreation area on their website as a "community park [that] provides facilities for child and family friendly activities."

However, there is apparently another side to the park -- a contrast that is something WCMH-TV calls "a tale of two parks."

"It's a Jekyll-Hyde park; I mean at night, it's a whole different thing," local resident Drew Collins told WCMH. "During the day, especially in the summer, you hear … kids playing soccer, stuff like that. Then at night, there's cars that come in and park next to each other, you see dome lights that occasionally go on and off … [and] gunshots -- different guns."

Collins told WCMH he heard gunshots as recently as a few weeks ago, but authorities have yet to release a cause of death for Villeda, leaving it unclear if the incidents could be related.

"In terms of cause and manner of death, we may know something tomorrow," Ortiz told HuffPost.

Villeda's cousin, Yozelin Teresa Villeda Diaz, told WSYX News he was an artist and dancer.

"He was a good person," she said. "We don't know what to think."

Villeda was last seen alive on Nov. 14 at his Columbus home, located roughly five miles from the park. According to Villeda's Facebook, he is from El Salvador and worked at a restaurant in east Columbus.

"He was a great associate for us, and he had a great attitude," Wendy Middleton, general manager of the Barn at Rocky Fork Creek, told The Columbus Dispatch.

Two days after Villeda's body was found, a forensic anthropology group from Ohio State University found the second body in the same area.

"We just weren't expecting … for them to find more bodies," local resident Yusuf Farah told WTTE News. "So, it's kind of a little bit concerning (sic)."

Detnaya Ihanetu, who's lived by the park the last eight years, told The Columbus Dispatch words "can't describe" what news of the discoveries has been like for area residents.

"It's sad," she said. "Now I don't even want to walk."

Earlier this year, the nearby city of Chillicothe was cast in the national spotlight after several women disappeared and turned up dead in local waterways. Authorities are still searching for answers in those cases.

There is no indication there is any connection between the cases in Chillicothe and the bodies found in Columbus, but there is no mistaking that authorities in both cities have one thing in common -- they're both chasing answers. And, similarly to the families in Chillicothe, Villeda's is hoping to have them soon.

"We don't know what to think," Diaz told WSYX News of her cousin's case. "Nobody has the right to take someone else's life."

Correction: Columbus is located in central, not southern Ohio.

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