Man Who Found Head in Bucket: I Thought It Was a Joke

Authorities still not sure head is connected to similar body part find

The man who found a human head in a bucket over the weekend said the bucket had been sitting on the bank of a canal for nearly three days before he finally decided to investigate.

William Hernandez, who works at a junk yard across the street from where the head was found in Dania Beach, said he thought the bloody bucket was filled fish guts because people often fished from the bank of the canal.

When he got closer, the man said he could see the face of the body-less head sticking out of the cement.

"At first I thought it was a joke," Hernandez said. "I thought someone was pulling a prank, but then I saw it was real."

"His chin was up and his nose was sticking out. It looked like he had been brutally hit by the eye. His red hair was in the concrete.”

The gruesome find is the second such dismembered body parts discovery found in a cement-filled container in as many weeks. Patrons near a Fort Lauderdale restaurant found a cooler filled with chopped up body parts on Nov. 6.

Investigators said despite the similarities to the crimes, it's too early to say the body parts are from the same person or somehow connected. The Medical Examiner's Office is conducting DNA testing to determine if the head and body parts are from the same person, but results won't be back for about a week.

The containers were found miles a part from each other.

Hernandez, who usually cleans up around the canal bank daily, said when he was tired of seeing the bucket and that's why he went to get it. When he picked it up, blood splashed out of the bucket.

Hernandez hasn't been able to eat since.

"I can't hardly eat," he said. "I want to eat something, but I can't.”

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