March 11 (UPI) — A human hand spotted by a dog walker this week in a wooded area of New York City’s Staten Island belonged to a woman who was buried at a nearby cemetery, police said Saturday.

Police announced they had solved the mystery of the hand, which was spotted by a dog walker in the North Mount Loretto State Forest on Thursday.

The resident noticed the hand when his dog started sniffing the ground in the area. He contacted police, who deployed cadaver dogs to search the forest but were unable to find any other human remains.

Using fingerprint analysis, the hand was identified as belonging to a woman who died in 2011 at the age of 63 and was buried at Staten Island’s Resurrection Cemetery, police say.

According to an NYPD spokesperson, authorities believe the hand was somehow separated from the woman’s body when the gravesite alongside hers was excavated for reburial on Feb. 27.

Police are not sure how the hand arrived in the woods from the cemetery, which is located approximately one mile from the location where the hand was discovered.