Authorities in Denton County believe that a body found in a landfill on Monday afternoon might have been transported there inside a recycling container.

The Denton Police Department released a statement saying that they received a call about a deceased person found at 12:48 p.m.

Patrol officers and investigators responded to the recycling facility at the City of Denton Landfill, where the body had been found by two employees. They told police that they observed part of a human body protruding from a pile of trash.

Detectives and an investigator with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office were able to remove the body from the refuse and determined it to be an adult male. Police said the body was covered with several layers of clothing and no identification was found.

The two employees told detectives that the City of Denton has trash trucks that empty recycling containers at various locations and transport the contents to the recycling facility. The refuse is then sorted to determine what can be recycled.

Police said it appears that the man's body had been in a recycling container and transferred from the container into a trash truck.

While detectives reported that the body had a significant amount of trauma, it is unknown if the trauma was caused by a trash truck.

The medical examiner’s office will examine the body and attempt to determine the cause of death. Denton police said the investigation is ongoing.