NATCHEZ — Adams County Coroner James Lee had the unusual experience Saturday of identifying a body that had already had a funeral and had been buried.

Lee was called to a scene at the St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge, where hunters had discovered a casket in the open. The casket had human remains in it, and the person had been buried within the last six months, he said.

“When the river was high, the casket apparently floated out of a family cemetery plot down on the refuge,” Lee said.

The coroner said that by working with the sheriff’s office he was able to identify who the body in the casket was and locate the cemetery in which it belonged, and the casket was taken back to where it belonged.

“The main issue is we were able to get it back and re-deposit it in the family cemetery in a dignified manner,” Lee said.

The family of the person in the casket has been notified of what happened, he said.