Halifax, N.C. — A Halifax family found human remains while hiking near a creek embankment on Sunday afternoon, the sheriff's office said Monday.

The human bones were found near the N.C. Highway 561 railroad bridge shortly before 1:40 p.m.

The sheriff's office said Monday that their only open missing person case involves Jalesa Reynolds, 18, who disappeared in 2010, but the remains found Sunday belong to a white man.

Sheriff's officials say the remains could be those of a homeless person, based on what was found at the scene, but they are waiting for test results from the State Bureau of Investigation.

"Due to the fact of it being skeletal remains, we called in the SBI for their crime scene technology to help us," said Chief Deputy Wes Tripp. "(It's) very, very early in the investigation right now to even try to determine what happened."

Neighbor George Beal said he was very surprised to hear that human remains were found in his town. "We're a small town. You just don't hear of a whole lot of stuff going on," he said.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System shows North Carolina has 114 unidentified persons cases.