GRANT COUNTY, Ark. (KTHV) - The Grant County Sheriff's Office suspects no foul play in the case of a body discovered in a well, but will wait for a medical report before closing the case.
The property owner found the body Monday while trying to free up debris from the well.
According to a Grant County incident report, the property owner discovered the male body nearly 25 feet below ground. Now the sheriff's office waits to hear the cause of death from the state crime lab.
The property owner found the body just northeast of the County Road 75 and Mail Route Road intersection. He told deputies about two months ago, his brother noticed the concrete cover off the well and propped up next to it. They later noticed debris in the well while replacing the cover, and on Monday attempted to use logging tongs and a rope to pull out the trash.
When the land owner raised the debris, he noticed human remains and then lowered the tongs and called authorities. Grant County Sheriff Ray Vance says County Rescue saw a boot in the well and noticed a strong odor.
"One of the rescue workers was able to repel into the well and help us recover the body. When I realized what we were possibly facing, we cleared the scene and waited for our investigators to get there and then I turned it over to them and they processed the scene as best they could," says Vance. "Along with the help of Arkansas State Police, they did their scene and then after that we concentrated on removing the remains."
Sheriff Vance says they were not able to identify the body or determine how long it was in the well. Vance says his office will rely on the medical examiner's report for that information.
As of now, there is only one missing person case in Grant County from 2004, but officials doubt the body found belongs to that missing person.
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