The cause of death is yet to be determined in the case of a decomposed body found over the weekend in Barbour County.
A vehicle that belonged to a missing Belington man was found within a short distance of the body, police said.
West Virginia State Police were called to a location on White Farm Road in Belington around 5:50 p.m. Saturday after a man and his grandson reported discovering the body about 100 feet away from a car, while they were out on their all-terrain vehicles.
The car was the black 1996 Chevy Cavalier that belonged to Randolph Louis Ginger, 80, of Belington, who went missing April 21. It was the vehicle Ginger was reported last seen in.
Sgt. J.A. Wyatt of the West Virginia State Police's Philippi Detachment declined to release the names of the two individuals who made the discovery.
"The young kid involved, he was traumatized," Wyatt said Monday.
The body was in advanced stages of decomposition, Wyatt said, and police believe the body may have been at White Farm Road since about the time Ginger went missing. Officials had not previously checked that location.
The body was taken to the State Medical Examiner's office in Charleston and West Virginia State Police are waiting for the autopsy report.
There is no conclusive evidence yet that the body actually belongs to Ginger.
"Once they conduct an autopsy, we'll be able to say one way or the other," Wyatt said.
Contact Melissa Toothman by email at mtoothman@theintermountain.com.
