BODY FOUND — Blue tarps mark the area where the body of an unidentified male was found off Chevy Lane near N.C. 18 South.

Decomposing body found in brushy area near home off N.C. 18 south

The decomposing body of an unidentified male was found in a brushy area near a rental home on Chevy Lane off N.C. 18 South over the weekend and authorities are not sure what may have happened to the man.

The body was found near a mobile home a few miles south of Sparta. Det. Bryan Maines of the Alleghany Sheriff’s Department is one of the investigators who have been working on the scene. Maines said agents from the State Bureau of Investigations have been called in to aid with the investigation.

“A family is renting a mobile home there and one of the residents found the body in a wooded, brushy area near the house after investigating a bad odor,” Maines said. “The body had apparently been there for some time and was badly decomposed.”

Sheriff Mike Caudill said the family moved in on Saturday and the body was discovered Saturday night. Caudill said that scavengers had affected the body and the crime scene, thus making the investigation more difficult. “Some parts of the remains apparently had been moved around by animals,” Caudill noted.

He said the department always investigates unknown incidents as if they are homicides until evidence proves otherwise. “We really have no choice,” he said, “until we figure out what may have happened here.”

He said the body appears to be a young man in his 20s or 30s, but it is very difficult to tell with the condition of the remains. Caudill said clothing found around the body indicates that he was wearing a heavy flannel shirt, possibly used as a jacket, along with jeans, work boots and T-shirt at the time of his death.

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