Body found at Bates Landing

By Staff
Jason Houston Acting Publisher
State and local law enforcement agencies are attempting to determine the identification of a dead body discovered near Bates Landing in Phil Campbell early Thursday.
Franklin County Sheriff Larry Plott said his department was notified Thursday morning that a local resident out walking discovered the male body about 40 to 50 feet north of the road leading to Bates Landing. The body was found in a soybean field, Plott said, and was beginning to decompose.
"A person was just out walking, going for a stroll, who usually walks for exercise in that area," Plott said. "The person smelled an odor, walked around to look and saw a person's hand."
Plott said it was not known how long the man's body had been in the field.
After the report was called in, state forensics officers and agents with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation arrived to help process the scene.
Plott said at press time for the Friday edition the body had not been positively identified.
"The forensics officers will use fingerprints, identifying marks and personal belongings to attempt to determine the person's identity," Plott said.
The investigation is being treated as a homicide, Plott said. The sheriff's department is working with the District Attorney's office, the ABI, and other area agencies in the investigation.
The sheriff's office is also seeking information on two men who escaped from the county work release program. Plott did not say if the escape and the dead body were thought to be related.
According to investigators, two men did not return to the jail after working Sunday. They are identified as Ronald Max Vernon, 54, 1003 First St., Tuscumbia, and Christopher John Clark, 29, Zelda Lane, Memphis, Tenn.
Vernon is a white male, 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds and has brown and gray medium length hair and blue eyes. He also has various tattoos on his body.
Clark is a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds and has very short dark hair and green eyes. He also has a number of tattoos on his body, including some on his head.
Anyone with information on either case is asked to contact the sheriff's department at 332-8820.