DEATH INVESTIGATION IN ALLEGANY CO. CONTINUES

(OLDTOWN, MD) -- Maryland State Police homicide investigators are working with the Allegany County Combined Criminal Investigation Unit (C3I) in an ongoing investigation into the death of a man whose body was found in a wooded area of southern Allegany County two days ago. 

The body of the adult male has not been positively identified. Forensic tests are ongoing at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore to verify the identity of the man. He has tentatively been identified by police as Lewis W. Joy, 37, of Flintstone, Md. 

The cause and manner of death have not been determined at this time. They remain under investigation at the medical examiner’s office as part of the ongoing autopsy process. Nothing has been ruled out and all possibilities are being considered by police investigators at this time. 

At about 10:00 a.m. on November 24, 2012, hunters in a remote wooded area near Oldtown, Md., found decomposing human remains lying on the ground. C3I investigators and State Police crime scene technicians responded to the scene. The scene was secured overnight and processed the next morning with the assistance of a forensic pathologist. The remains were taken to Baltimore for an autopsy and identification. The body appeared to have internal injuries, but it remains unclear how those injuries were sustained. 

The body was clothed in underwear, jeans, and brown boots. Investigators found a hooded sweatshirt tied between two trees about 28 feet from the ground, near where the body was found. 

On October 22, 2012, Lewis Joy was reported missing to Maryland State Police at the Cumberland Barrack. Troopers learned Joy had last been seen on October 13, 2012. They also found he had two outstanding warrants for his arrest in Allegany County and he had told at least one friend that he would not go back to jail. 

Police also learned on October 16, 2012, a vehicle being used by Joy was found abandoned in the woods at a gun club on Cresap Mill Road at Oldtown Road. Searches of the area surrounding the location of the truck were conducted by friends and police, but Joy was not located. The recovered body was found by the hunters Saturday not far from where the truck was located. 

The investigation is continuing.