Authorities continue to investigate cache of weapons, ammunition found near Potomac River

WASHINGTON - U.S. Park Police and the ATF are trying to solve a mystery on who left weapons, including what appear to be several homemade silencers, in a wooded area near a boathouse along the Potomac River.

The discovery was initially made Wednesday morning by a hiker who found weapons inside a violin case.

The area where the case was found is a small stretch of wooded area between the C&O Canal and Canal Road nearby the Boathouse at Fletcher's Cove. However, there are not any actual hiking trails in this particular area.

"I think it was at least two weapons inside the violin case and the woman who found it, she happened to be hiking in the area and saw a pile of debris - kind of along Canal Road near the stone wall," said U.S. Park Police Sgt. Anna Rose. "She brought the violin case down to Fletcher's Boathouse to tell us that, 'Hey, I found this stuff.' We responded and we recovered the violin case with the weapons inside and then we responded to the area where she found the weapons."

A picture obtained by FOX 5 of the violin case showed it did not appear to be weathered or showed signs of being outdoors for very long. It also appeared to have duct tape on it.

According to sources, who did not examine the items but were at the scene on Wednesday, there were what appeared to be homemade silencers that were also found. The sources said there were also ammunition found inside a 5-gallon bucket as well as a couple of handguns. There were also other ammunition found wrapped in duct tape. Additional weapons were located as well.

But why were the weapons and ammunition there? Park Police and the ATF declined to comment on exactly what they found or why the weapons were left there and it continues to be under investigation.