Alabama state and local investigators are awaiting autopsy results in hopes of shedding light on what happened to a person whose body was found Monday after firefighters extinguished a burning outbuilding on Lookout Mountain along Alabama Highway 35.
No foul play is suspected so far but officials hope an examination of the body found on Lookout Mountain, just west of Little River Canyon National Preserve, will answer some questions, according to DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris. Next of kin, some of whom live out of state, are still being notified of the death, he said.
Harris, who called the death “tragic,” said the district attorney’s office ordered the body transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for a forensic examination.
Sheriff’s department officials said a determination of cause of death could take some time.
Sheriff’s administrative assistant Shannon St. John said Adamsburg Volunteer Fire Department firefighters responded to the blaze Monday. St. John said firefighters turned the scene over to investigators once the body was found.
Officials from the district attorney’s office and the Alabama Fire Marshal’s office assisted in the investigation, according to Harris.