Police Find 3 Human Skulls In Man's Home Used For 'Religious Beliefs'

Police found three adult human skulls in a Palmdale home, and the apparent owner of the skulls says they're for religious purposes.Huntington Beach Police officers were serving a search warrant for an alleged robbery committed in Orange County when they arrived at a home in the 2500 block of East Avenue Q-4 in Palmdale, NBC LA reports It's not yet clear what led police to the Palmdale location. However, what they found there was surprising: three adult human skulls.

Investigators from the L.A. County Sheriff's Homicide Department then responded to the home and determined that all the residents were alive and accounted for. The skulls' apparent owner told police he had them "due in part to religious beliefs," Detective Kevin Acebedo said. It's also possible that the skulls had been in the home for several years. The skulls will be studied by a forensic anthropologist to figure who they once belonged to and if there was any foul play, CBS LA reports.

The Palmdale residents told NBC LA that the police were "lying" about the skulls, and refused to be interviewed by the news outlet.

No charges have been filed, and police are also working to determine if it's legal for the Palmdale resident to have the skulls. While many believe it's always illegal to own human remains with the exception of ashes, that's not always true. A school can own human bones for academic purposes, and you can sell bones on eBay as long as you list that they're for medical research. You can also collect bones, though finding a real skull is much harder since India stopped exporting human remains in the '80s and China did the same in 2008. Some states have different laws regarding what kinds of remains you can purchase, and it's always illegal to purchase the bones of Native Americans.

A woman who considers herself an ethical bone collector wrote an essay for xoJane in January as to how she finds them.