Skeletons

Depends...........who finds out.

Why is she burying the body? Compassion? Guilt?

If the authorities found out, she could be charged with desecrating a corpse or tampering with a possible crime scene. Charges likely wouldn't stick, unless she destroyed some critical evidence in the process.

Improper Disposition of a Corpse is a crime - misdemeanor, I believe. But the definition of "corpse" vs "skeleton" might be a factor.

Some states have "abuse of corpse" statutes and others have "improper disposal" statutes, but in most cases they would be misdemeanors and she would be a juvenile, so the ultimate result (if they did actually prosecute) would most likely be a probation. Can you give me an actual state this would occur in? I could give you a more definitive answer.

At fifteen I would think a person would know that this is a crime, and just overall isn't the right thing to do...when you discover human remains, you have to notify the authorities. One, it is possibly a crime scene, and she is tampering with the evidence (in fact, disposing of it), and two, even if it isn't a crime scene, it is not her right or responsibility to be the one doing the burying--she may feel it is the respectful thing to do, but that person may have had a family somewhere who still doesn't know what happened to them. The family of the deceased person would want to have the body identified and be able to hold their own burial, according to their own traditions.

If someone dies with you while out in the wildnerness, and you can't take the body with you, I think that's a different situation--you can't leave the body out in the open where it will be eaten by animals. But that's not an issue anymore with the skeleton.

Paint, can you give us a wee bit more information to play with?

I'd keep it.

Well, if she doesn't tell anyone she buried the body, no problem. She could even explain to the family that she found the things in the car....but no body.

Unless she told someone else, or their were witnesses, she's good to go.