A homicide investigation is underway in Beulah after a male body was discovered in a well.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office was serving a search warrant in the 9000 block of Lee Road 279 in Beulah on Sunday night in reference to the missing persons case of James Edmund Clarke, 72, the Lee County Coroner’s Office said Monday afternoon.
Clarke was reported missing on Dec. 19 and was last seen about a month prior to the report, the Sheriff’s Office previously said.
Lee County Coroner Bill Harris confirmed a death at the scene, but not the identity yet.
It took about two and a half hours, with assistance from several agencies, to recover the body from the well, the coroner’s office said.
The body was taken to the medical examiner’s office of the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Montgomery for a postmortem examination and positive identification.
The incident is being investigated as a homicide.
The Sheriff’s Office has developed a person of interest in the case and do not believe the death was a random act, authorities reported.
The incident remains under the investigation by the Lee County Coroner’s Office and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Anyone with information concerning the case is asked to call the Lee County Sheriff’s Office at 334-749-5651, Lee County Crime Stoppers at 888-522-7847 or the Lee County Coroner Secret Witness line at 334-742-4339.