LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — In a bizarre and unsettling discovery, federal authorities are delving into the case of more than 300 piles of human remains found scattered in the desert near Las Vegas. This investigation took a significant turn on Wednesday when a local funeral home took the initiative to begin collecting the remains.

Originally brought to light by the 8 News Now Investigators, the grim find was first reported in August, although the remains were initially discovered on July 28. A concerned individual, who stumbled upon the remains in a desolate area outside Searchlight—a rural town roughly an hour south of the Las Vegas valley along U.S. 95—alerted the news team.

By August, the Bureau of Land Management had confirmed that these mysterious piles were indeed human cremains, a term that refers to ashes resulting from the cremation process. Officials assured that an investigation was underway to determine how these cremains ended up in such a remote location.

In a recent development, Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries stepped in on Wednesday to retrieve about 315 piles from the site. Their efforts also uncovered an additional dumping area nearby, as highlighted in the initial report by 8 News Now Investigators.

Commonly referred to as “ashes,” these cremains are essentially pulverized bone fragments that remain after the cremation of a body. The mystery of their desert disposal continues to perplex both investigators and the community, as they search for answers in this unusual case.

“I think most of us just felt like, ‘What a shame,’” said Celena DiLullo, the president of Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries.

Each pile represents a person who lived in the Southern Nevada community. The piles are likely the work of a commercial funeral home business, several sources confirm to the 8 News Now Investigators.

DiLullo and other Palm employees moved each pile into a bag and into an individual urn during the recovery effort on Wednesday.

There is no law in Nevada barring a person from scattering ashes on public land. State law requires funeral operators to preserve the “dignity” of any remains in their care. BLM policy allows for a person to scatter cremated remains; however, the policy limits “commercial distribution of cremated remains.” A mass dumping site, like this one, likely violates federal law.

“I don’t know if it was the wishes of these people to be out, so that’s kind of what goes through my mind,” DiLullo said. “If this is not how they would want to be remembered, we would just want to have a place for them to be.”

Palm will place all 315 remains into a crypt at one of its cemeteries so loved ones can find them, DiLullo said. Each pile no longer contained any identifiable information as of Wednesday. In August, some piles contained pieces of zip ties, which crematories use to close bags of ashes. Pieces of a broken urn also littered part of the site.

“I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” DiLullo said. “It’s important to our community and our profession that we demonstrate how much we do care about these people.”

The remains are not connected to McDermott’s Funeral Home, which the Nevada Funeral and Cemetery Services Board closed in August.

Several sources have suggested to the 8 News Now Investigators that the remains came from another recently closed funeral home. A representative from that business, which is headquartered out of state, has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Tips can be submitted to the BLM at blm_law_enforcement@blm.gov.

8 News Now Investigator David Charns can be reached at dcharns@8newsnow.com.