Police complete search after Columbus woman’s discovery in her backyard goes viral

This story has been updated to add new information.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Viral TikTok videos showing a rug found buried in a Columbus woman’s backyard sparked a police investigation and social media fears that a body would be found, but as of Friday afternoon the search ended without found something.

Katie Santry was digging holes for a fence in her backyard when she came across what looked like a buried carpet, she said in a video posted to TikTok earlier this week. She also joked that her house might be haunted, saying her laptop was broken and items had been misplaced.

Santry’s first video has over 3 million views and her entire chain of more than 20 clips about the carpet mystery has accumulated over 100 million views.

Santry went live on TikTok again after the search was completed and recounted the saga to more than 100,000 viewers.

“It was just a carpet,” Santry said during the livestream Friday afternoon.

Concern grew when two cadaver dogs alerted to possible human remains in Santry’s backyard Thursday.

Police dug in Santry’s yard Friday and eventually brought in an excavator, but a spokeswoman for the Columbus Division of Police said police found “some remnants of a carpet material.”

Friday’s investigation brought a significant police and media presence to the cul-de-sac in front of Santry’s home. A few groups of curious neighbors and onlookers gathered nearby, filming videos and discussing news.

Cars passing by slowed down and many drivers held their phones out the window to take photos and videos.

Columbus police get involved

Several TikTok users urged Santry to contact police as her videos went viral and Columbus police visited the property on Thursday.

Santry streamed the investigation live on TikTok, including moments when two cadaver dogs sat down after sniffing part of the yard. Cadaver dogs are often trained to sit to signal that they have found human remains. Santry said at least 100,000 people watched the livestream.

“I’m still hoping that maybe someone had a bloody nose on a carpet and buried it,” she wrote in a caption.

Watson said the dogs could have pointed out different things.

“It could be body oil,” Watson said. “It could be sweat. It could be blood, maybe a nick or a paper cut, something like that is so insignificant. So at the moment we don’t know what we’re seeing.”

Who are the previous owners of Katie Santry’s house?

The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network, contacted the home’s previous owner — a 95-year-old Ohio resident — who said police called his family on Thursday. He said he and his wife did a lot of gardening and wondered if they had accidentally discovered a buried burlap sack.

He added that they were both confused by the whole ordeal and that the attention to his wife had been devastating.

“The police called us yesterday and also asked some questions,” he said. “They also spoke to my son. Neither of us could remember anything that was buried.”

He added: “I just hope they get lucky if there is treasure there.”

Why are the police investigating?

Watson said investigators at the property “began excavation” on Friday. Police held the scene overnight and continued the investigation in the morning – Watson said they needed “light” to work.

“We’re taking it as seriously as we can,” Watson said. “You know, no stone is left unturned when it comes to these incidents, so we just want to make sure we do our due diligence.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Police complete search after discovery of viral rug in Columbus home