Houston County Sheriff Darrell Allison and his investigators are waiting for an identification of human remains found in a remote, densely wooded area on Thanksgiving Day.
The remains have been sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Nashville lab, and Allison said the latest he’s heard is identification could take several weeks because DNA testing will be necessary.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
“The remains were pretty extensively decomposed,” Allison said.
The sheriff declined to speculate if the remains are those of Leamom Luffman, who has been missing from his Bateman Branch Road residence since Oct. 7.
Allison said, out of respect for Luffman’s family, he would not comment on the missing 65-year-old man until a positive ID has been obtained.
Luffman is Houston County’s only open missing person case.
“Other surrounding counties have missing person cases, but we have no information that they would be in and around our county,” Allison said.
The discovery was made by a hunter on Thanksgiving morning in a heavily wooded area off Highway 231, which is also known as McEwen Highway.
The sheriff said the body was in a deep hollow that was a mile to 1½ miles from a paved roadway. The recovery team drove about two miles in a vehicle, and about another mile on four-wheelers before they had to proceed on foot into the thick woods of the hollow.
The area is part of a 2,000-acre hunting reserve that is under lease. Timber on the land has been harvested in some areas, while other locations are dense with mature trees and underbrush.
Luffman’s home on Bateman Branch Road appears on a map to be possibly two miles north of the area where the body was found.
Allison said there were no obvious signs of foul play at the scene, but some evidence was collected although it “was nothing substantial to help with the ID,” such as a wallet.
“The weather had taken a toll on the body,” Lt. Brian Hooper said regarding how long the body might have been in the woods. “Once we find out who it is, we can narrow that down.”
