Print this story | E-mail story | This story has 17 comments Add your own | iPod friendly
Body close to being ID'd
Published Tuesday, April 22, 2008
NATCHEZ — Local authorities are one step closer to identifying a woman floating in the river Saturday.
Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy Maj. Jody Waldrop said a body found in the Mississippi early Saturday evening has been “tentatively identified.”
Waldrop said woman’s fingerprints had a possible match from the Illinois area.
But the name matching the prints is not one listed as missing, Waldrop said.
However, Waldrop said the name of the woman could not be given until her identity is verified.
Adams County Coroner James Lee said the body is that of a female of who was in her 30s or 40s.
Lee said there is a 70 percent chance the woman was black and likely weighed 200 pounds or more.
On Sunday an autopsy was performed in Jackson by the state pathologist.
Lee said the woman’s cause of death was consistent with drowning.
Lee said the woman’s body showed no signs of gunshots, stab wounds or lacerations.
Lee did say the woman had a scar consistent with the removal of the gall bladder or appendix.
But much about the woman is still a mystery.
Lee said it was still unknown how long the woman had been dead or where she came from.
“She could be from Tennessee or anywhere,” he said. “We just don’t know.”
On Saturday afternoon, a hunter checking on his camp found the woman’s body floating near the end of Carthage Point Road, said Charles Feltus, a member of the Adams County Search and Rescue Team.
Feltus said the body was approximately 1 mile inland.
Comments
Posted by fire39212 (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 12:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow....May God be with her family....
Posted by bayou (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 7:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The first report was a male was found. Is this the same person or did they find another body?
Posted by chrimberly (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think it is the same body. They just couldn't tell before the autopsy because the body was too decomposed.
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 8:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I hope that they find the family and get this behind all of them. You know they have to be worried sick wondering what has happened.
Posted by Hardcorps (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 9:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I pray a family can get closure.
Posted by timnoklahoma (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 12:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is odd! First they could not tell if it was a male or a female. But now the body still has fingerprints---even enough left to get an ID from!!!
Now they know that it is that of a female in her 30s or 40s!!
Not only that---but now SHE has a scar "consistent with the removal of the gall bladder or appendix". If she (or it when it was found) could have a visible scar, I think the man part would still be visible!
If they have her “tentatively identified”, I think they could look on her tentative drivers license and get her age, race, and weight. Now they can look at her and say---according to her body---"we feel that she lived on Main Street in Chicago, Illinois."
Posted by timnoklahoma (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 12:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I guess I been watchin way too much TV!
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 12:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
timnoklahoma, I don't want to guess how the experts rummage through a dead body and tell us what they learn. But I know that if you leave a dead cow or deer out in the field, the skin and bones will be some of the last stuff left. Most likely fingerprints and scars are still visible on the skin. My hat is off to the people that have to do this. Our coroner should get a raise.
Posted by jack (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 1:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
yes coroner should get a raise but i think this is all done in jackson with the state medical examiners crew our hats should be off to all the professionals that are nvolved in this i can only image the site these guys saw and will have to live with lets sit back and see the results and hope this lady was not killed here and then we have a murder to discuss the good news is no one here is reported missing that even comes close so lets give thanks to all working to put this to rest again these people working on this the sheriff, coroner, rescue team and state that we all second guess, we should be thankful the job they do is not always pretty
Posted by andy (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 3:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
somebody has to do this type of job thank you for doing it for us even if we don't say it everyday THANKS
Posted by NJM (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 3:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
i agree!!! i would have nightmares forever if i had to do what our coroners and the like have to do!! a BIG thanks! think of haveing also to notify the family also...they have to do that sometimes.
Posted by luzichick (anonymous) on April 22, 2008 at 8:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
timnoklahoma, I'm no expert by any means, but I would think that being in and out of the water would make a difference in the condition of the body. It was both decomposed and waterlogged. They probably had very little to go on when the body was first pulled out of the water partially because of what being in the water does to the skin. Once the body had a chance to dry out a little bit, they were probably better able to deal with it.
And I hate to be gross, but it's likely that decomposition and waterlogging weren't the only damage to the body. Even without foul play, there are critters and debris in the water that can damage a body. That may have played a part in them not being able to tell sex.
Additionally, as far as the sex and approximate age go, they may have figured that out from her bones; from x-rays. They wouldn't need her to be intact externally for that.
And as for the "tentative" identification, they probably have a pretty good idea who it is, but don't want to say until she can be definitively ID'd using DNA and until her family has been notified.
Posted by PIangel (anonymous) on April 23, 2008 at 5:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wait a min. Jackson did the work as always corner is rideing girls in his work van who are not even supose to be in there and pulling people over for tickets or so i heard not so sure he needs that raise.
I am just saying before we vote he gets a raise for haveing to pick up the dead bodys and deliver them to Jackson we should take a closer look. But what do i know LOL
I also think maybe they were not saying who it was or boy or girl because they were hopeing someone may come forward and run thier mouth about other people missing that have not been found and may have been put in the river
Posted by PIangel (anonymous) on April 23, 2008 at 5:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I do not know about a rise but maybe they did not say it was a boy or girl because they were hopeing someone whould come forward with other info on other missing people.
Posted by PIangel (anonymous) on April 23, 2008 at 5:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I ask for my first comment to be removed based on the fact that it was hear say.
Posted by blueeydlady101 (anonymous) on April 23, 2008 at 10:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is a tradgic accident. I know a family of three that was took by this mean old river. The woman Sandy Smith was found 3 months later after drowning in the Mississippi River. My father was involved in the search of our friends and her family. My father Herman Nettles can relate to what the man that found this lady from the river deceased.
I just hope that her family can get her remains and finally put this to rest once and for all. It would be a terrible feeling to have aloved one missing without a clue of what happened to her. My prayers go out to the family and the man that found this body.
Posted by atribett (anonymous) on May 29, 2008 at 11:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Going with the information I have just heard this body seem to be the body of one of my family members.
Post a comment (Terms of Use Policy)
(Requires free registration.)