Cherokee County investigators recovered evidence Tuesday afternoon which could be connected to a horrific killing.
Deputies arrested 63-year-old Terry Lee McKinney for the murder of a victim whom forensic scientists are working to identify.
Sheriff Jeff Shaver said someone called his office Sunday afternoon to report the discovery of what appeared to be human remains along Cherokee County Road 82, north of Cedar Bluff. Investigators confirmed the body of a person, which was dismembered and strewn along the road.
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“I’ve been in law enforcement nearly 34 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Sheriff Shaver said.
“I’ve seen a lot, and I’ve seen people do things that you would never believe one human could do to another, but I’ve never seen this before.”
As the Cherokee County Major Crimes Unit passed Country Road 137, they began to find portions of the victim’s body along the side of the road. Investigators said it appeared as if the pieces were tossed from the window of a moving vehicle.
The Center for Applied Forensics at Jacksonville State University came to assist the sheriff’s office and Cedar Bluff police, as they are small law enforcement agencies and don’t have their own forensics lab. The investigators searched for other parts of the victim’s body. One officer said buzzards gathered in the area.
“It’s upsetting, when you consider this is a human being and this is what one human did to another human,” Shaver said.
“It’s very difficult because we have not been able to identify the remains. It’s been sent to Huntsville for DNA testing where they will try to positively identify the remains.”
A Cedar Bluff police officer on patrol Tuesday afternoon noticed what could be additional evidence. The sheriff’s office is waiting for forensics to confirm what it might be.
The sheriff said investigators believe the victim is a Cedar Bluff man who went missing from his home last Monday. His family reported him missing Friday, and the sheriff said the man was last seen with McKinney.
“We learned that there was another case that could be related, on a missing person from Cedar Bluff, and after conducting a search warrant at a residence, we arrested Terry McKinney,” he said.
A judge set McKinney’s bond Monday at $1-million.
