Farmer finds body south of Palmyra

PALMYRA – A farmer spreading lime in a Palmyra Township field Friday afternoon made the gruesome discovery of a partially decomposed body behind a dilapidated wooden barn.

Lenawee County Sheriff’s detectives were on the scene before 2 p.m. According to Lenawee County under sheriff James Anderson, a partially decomposed body of what they believed to be a woman was found near the back corner of barn in the 6000 block of Scott Highway.

The barn is about 50 yards off the road on the east side about 100 yards north of Station Road. Anderson could not positively say the body was that of a female or what age or race the person was. Police could not confirm foul play Friday evening due to the condition of the body. But they believe it has been there for some time.

Six very large spools of yellow field tile sat in front of the barn near the road that had been dropped off possibly a week ago, Anderson said. Another trailer with some tile material was on the south side of the barn.

The body was discovered near the north end on the back side. In the field next to the barn, a tiling machine also stood. There were no homes close to the vicinity where the body had been dumped. There was a field drive back to the barn, but the property in front of it was overgrown with grass and weeds. There was also another aging wooden structure to the south of the barn.Approximately seven members of the Lenawee County Sheriff’s personnel were on the scene as well as a trooper from the Michigan State Police.

Anderson said there would likely not be much information to tell until after the autopsy reports came back and if and when the person was identified.

The Michigan State Police mobile crime lab from Lansing arrived on the scene just before 5:30 p.m. to assist with the investigation.

Sheriff Jack Welsh said detectives were looking into the possibility the body could be of a woman reported missing from Sylvania Township in mid-September. Sylvania Township detectives were dispatched to the scene and local officials were waiting for their arrival at 6:30 p.m.

The missing woman had reportedly been visiting relatives in Sylvania Township, but hasn’t been seen or heard from since she allegedly left to go home on Sept. 18. Her vehicle was found abandoned days later in a Sylvania Township park just south of Monroe Street near the Starlite Shopping Plaza.

– By Melissa Burnor, The Advance. Please see the Nov. 14 edition of The Advance for this story and more. Copyright 2012, River Raisin Publications.

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