Brian Boyce
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — An autopsy is expected today for a body found in the woods of northeastern Vigo County on Sunday afternoon.
Indiana State Police detectives and crime scene investigators were still working that evening to identify the body, which was found clothed and partially decomposed in woods adjacent to 11236 Grotto Ave., about 1.8 miles north of U.S. 40 on the Clay and Vigo county line, according to a media release issued by the ISP.
The body was found by a person walking in the woods and reported to the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department at 1:41 p.m. According to the release, “Sheriff’s investigators were aware of state police detectives conducting a missing person’s case from the area and requested ISP at the scene.”
Indiana State Police detectives are not speculating at this time on the identity, age, gender or cause of death. However, according to the release, “there are similarities in clothing to an active missing person’s case currently being investigated by ISP detectives.”
While authorities are not releasing information pertaining to the identity of the body, a missing person’s case involving Clay County resident Charles Raymond Chumley Jr., 30, has been ongoing in that area since he was last seen there at 11:45 p.m. Dec. 8.
Chumley was reported missing by his wife, Jennifer, who told police he had left her in a vehicle in the driveway of 11300 E. Davis Drive to walk into a nearby wooded area. According to an earlier release issued by the ISP, the driveway of that property leads to a residence owned by Chumley’s parents. According to a Vigo County map, the properties are less than a mile apart in distance.
A full autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon at Terre Haute Regional Hospital. Dr. Roland Kohr will be the attending pathologist.
<i>Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.</i>
