Gulf Coast authorities have identified a dismembered body discovered on the side of the road in Pearl River County in South Mississippi.
Pearl River County Coroner Derek Turnage said the body of Seth Coulter Odom, 24, a native of Poplarville, Miss., was inside a plastic tool box on the side of the road around 10 a.m. Saturday near Burge and Reyer roads in north Pearl River County. Authorities found the murdered victim after receiving a 9-1-1 call about the discovery of human remains.
No one had reported Odom missing, Turnage said.
“It was obvious the body had been dismembered and put in the box,” Turnage told the Mississippi Free Press.
“We utilized local resources to recover the box with the body from the embankment keeping them both intact and carefully delivered the remains to the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Biloxi so an autopsy could be conducted.”
On Monday, Turnage said, the body was extracted out of the tool box, then the victim was identified based on his tattoos.
Officials believe the body was dismembered and placed in the box, then dumped. The cause of death was a gun shot wound, but the coroner’s office will not release any further details at this time, Turnage said. An investigation is ongoing at this time.
Correction: The original story attributed a quote to the deceased in the last paragraph rather than the coroner and the cause of death was unknown at the time this story was originally published. The story is now corrected and updated.
This is a developing story.
