Police investigate after Florida homeless man brings human skull into grocery store

(FoxNews.com) - Police in South Florida are trying to determine the identity of a decomposed body after a homeless man brought a skull into a grocery store earlier this week.

WPBF reported that the man stumbled upon human remains Tuesday along a path in a wooded area in Sebastian and brought it into a nearby Publix in the hope that someone would alert authorities.

"He had put the skull on top of a trash can over there because he wanted to tell somebody to call the sheriff's office," Indian River County sheriff's office spokesman Thomas Raulen told the station.

"He was using it as a puppet," witness Nick Pecoraro told WPBF. "It smelled like death." The Palm Beach Post reported that Pecoraro called 911 to alert deputies about the skull.