Troopers: Evidence Found at Scene Suggests Man Found Dead Was Hanged

State Police are still unsure what killed a man whose decomposed body was found along Rt. 19 in Monongalia County, but said evidence at the scene shows the man might have been hanged.

The man's body was sent to the Office of the Medical Examiner for identification and autopsy, and, according to Sgt. Michael Kief, has been sent to a forensic anthropologist.

Although she could not comment on this specific case, Marsha Dadisman, director of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources office of communications, said the medical examiner's office works with forensic anthropologists through the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Kief declined to say what evidence troopers found, and said he will not know the official cause of death until the autopsy is completed.

Mowers found the body about 300 yards from U.S. Route 19 South, near Beverly Hills Florist on Oct. 20, 2009, according to Kief.

Troopers found a Georgia identification with the body, and Kief said that judging by the skeletal remains he thinks the picture is accurate.

However, police in Norcross, Ga., went to the address listed on the ID and told troopers the people living there claimed they did not know the man pictured.

Investigators also ran the name through an ID database and the National Crime Information Center, but found no matches.

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