Experts from the University of Tennessee's renowned Forensic Anthropology Center took the bones back with them to Knoxville Monday to work on the mystery.
The center is well-known for its "body farm," where experts study cadaver decomposition rates, forensic entomology and other topics related to dead bodies.
"They found most of the parts of a body," said Henderson County Coroner Bruce Farmer.
However, he said, because the pelvic bone was broken, the gender of the bones is not yet known.
Other objects were also found along with the remains, Farmer said, but he declined to say what those were.
"We are not releasing that until we get a little farther along in the investigation," he said.
Because the coroner's office isn't called until there is a body, Farmer said his office is handling the investigative work while the University of Tennessee experts examine the bones.
"We have a couple people missing, and I've asked the families for anything that might help identify who this is," Farmer said.
That includes DNA samples that might be used for comparison should experts be able to recover DNA from the bones.
"They were going to check for DNA if traces of bone marrow are left," he said.
Those missing person cases include 64-year-old Corydon, Kentucky, resident
Dianna Henry, as well as
Heather Teague, who disappeared under suspicious circumstances in 1995.