An autopsy should lead Jackson County, Ala., authorities to identify a body found Wednesday at the edge of a cornfield near the town of Section.
Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday investigators are trying to determine if the body they found off County Road 37 is the man reported missing to Fort Payne police in neighboring DeKalb County on Sunday.
The mother of Ricardo Hernandez, 19, of Fort Payne, is believed to have last seen her son Saturday, Harnen said.
Jackson County deputies answered a call Sunday on Bluff Road about a man who was trespassing on private property and who ran into the woods when the landowner confronted him, Harnen said. Hernandez’s mother’s car was found nearby.
Several properties on the south side of Bluff Road where the prowler call was reported are adjacent to the site on the west side of County Road 37 where the body was found. Harnen said a deputy saw a Facebook post from Hernandez’s mother and noted the potential link.