A woman found walking with a human skull on a stick has led police to a site containing human remains in a city in California.

Sacramento police were alerted to the woman last week as she walked down Connie Drive.

A picture of the women captured at the time shows her wearing a pair of patterned trousers and a red hooded jacket while holding the stick in front of her.

“There was a transient female walking down the 2900 block of Connie Drive. She actually had a skull in her possession,” Sacramento Police Sergeant Bryce Heinlein told KTXL.

Police caught up with the woman, who is believed to be homeless, in front of an abandoned house on the same street and she took them to the area where she had found the skull. Police were led to a site at an abandoned homeless encampment where they located a decomposed body. It is unclear why the woman was walking in the streets with the skull on a stick.

Authorities spent two days at the scene and are investigating what caused the death. It is not known if the body has been identified.