The bike tires hum against the gravel on the Greenbelt River Trail as a young girl pedals down the path.

The warm evening air of July flows through her hair as she races past the tall grass on either side of the trail.

She embraces the flickers of sunshine breaking through the canopy above.

It's quiet, she thinks.

A sort of quiet that makes her feel like she's the only person in the world. But she's not. She's not.

And just then, she gets a sense of being watched as something off the trail catches her eye.

She coast to a stop, perches on one leg, still half on her bike, staring into the brush.

Whatever it is, stands out against the backdrop of nature.

The hair on the back of her neck stands up as she drops her bike and inches closer.

It's something pale, round, and unmoving.

When she finally realizes what it is, her hand flies to her mouth to stifle her gasp.

There, balanced unnaturally on a stick jutting out of the ground is a human skull.

It's weathered and discolored.

It's empty sockets staring right back at her.

She blindly walks backwards, trying to distance herself from what she's just found.

She nearly stumbles over her bike as she reaches for her phone and dials her mother.

By 5.30 p.m., the Mitchell County Sheriff's Office phone rings.

The young girl's mother relays what she's found on the trail.

Within the hour, a sheriff's deputy is on the scene.

He sees the skull just as described resting on a stick in the overgrowth.

It's collected and sent to the Iowa office of the state medical examiner.

They have no idea who it belongs to or how it got there.

...