Bastrop County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a female body was found off of Highway 71

*UPDATE* 5/13/16 10:00 am

The Justice of the Peace in Bastrop County has confirmed the body found was a woman. Authorities are conducting an autopsy.  FOX 7 will bring you more information as this story develops.

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The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a body was found off of Highway 71 Thursday afternoon. Investigators are hoping the results of an autopsy will give them more clues as to who the person is and how they died.

Joe Gambino lives down the street where the body was found. “I wasn't sure if it was on our property of the other side of that road.” He’s lived in Bastrop County for nearly 40 years, “It's generally quiet, and we feel pretty safe here.” But he said finding human remains near his home is perturbing; “I think anything like this should make anyone uneasy, you know? What happened? Who did what to who? And who dumped them down the road?” But Gambino said he has confidence local law enforcement will be quick to answer those questions. “I don’t think we can have any better law enforcement than we have with Bastrop County and state police resources too,” he said.

Bastrop County Sheriff’s said the property owner was doing work on his land when he found the body and reported it. Sissy Jones is with the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office and said the body has been there for a while and is partially decomposed. She said anytime a body is found, they investigate it as a crime scene. “We need to do some investigation to determine how this body ended up here and the manner of death. With that comes investigation, and then we will determine if this was a suicide or a homicide,” Jones said.

Until they know how the person died, Jones said residents in the area should be alert. “We want residents to know and understand (to) be aware of their surroundings. If they know anything about this, we want them to call us at the Sheriff’s office absolutely, but at this time I can't say whether or not anyone else is in danger,” Jones said.

Gambino said he isn't worried about being in danger, “We're in the country, so obviously most people like me and you know, we are pretty much able to defend ourselves if we have a little moment’s notice to take care of ourselves, and we will.” But he did say he is worried for the victim's family. “We would say that we would pray for them and their family, and give them strength to get through something like this. God help us all, when there's bad stuff going on in the world,” he said.