PAPD investigation stalled until full autopsy report complete

The “extremely decomposed” body found off Old Yacht Club Road Monday afternoon is still a mystery to the Port Arthur Police Department after the autopsy conducted Tuesday left the “doctor with more questions.”

The police department won’t receive a full autopsy report until Wednesday, and the pathologist is withholding the information he has until then, PAPD Maj. Raymond Clark said Tuesday afternoon.

“He told us he wants to do a couple more tests to confirm some things,” Clark said. “We’re still investigating it as a homicide because it could be several different scenarios. It could be a suicide, it could be a murder — it could be a couple different things.”

Clark said Monday night the body was found in a field, about 500 feet north of the roadway, by workers walking along Old Yacht Club Road toward the Veterans Memorial Bridge when they noticed “something strange in the brush area.”

When the workers realized what they were seeing in the field — an “extremely decomposed body” — they called the Port Arthur police. Rumors circulating that the body was found in a “makeshift grave” are not true, Clark said Tuesday, but the police have little information to disseminate at this time.

“Until we get that autopsy report, we still don’t know if it’s a man or woman — or how long the body’s been out there,” Clark said. “We’re holding off on a lot of things until our report comes in.”

Twitter: @crhenderson90