A dead person discovered under a bridge in Fairmont is the third set of human remains found in Marion County in the last month and the fourth found in counties surrounding Monongalia.
On June 3, a woman later identified as 30-year-old Courtney Nicole Martin was found by a creek bed near Oakwood Road. Her cause of death has not yet been released, but investigators estimated she had been dead for approximately one week. A preliminary autopsy did not reveal obvious signs of bodily trauma.
Martin’s death is still under investigation while police await results from the State Medical Examiner.
On June 7, four days after Martin’s body was discovered, a fisherman found remains in the Monongahela River near Hoult Town. The body was decomposed, but the remains appear to be that of a male. Police said the location of this body does not necessarily indicate that is where they died and could be from a neighboring area.
According to Fairmont police, there were no obvious signs of penetrating injury and the male does not relate to any reported missing persons. Detectives are continuing their investigation into an identity.
A Monday afternoon press release from Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shine stated a third body was found on Saturday in a wooded area of Marion County, near train tracks/Buffalo Creek.
Shine said this person was also in a highly decomposed state and has likely been dead for weeks or months. They do believe the person died near the area they were found. Fairmont police are also investigating the identity of this set of remains.
Shine said, “there has been no correlation made between any of these deaths,” adding that in two of the three deaths, drugs or drug paraphernalia was also found.
The release also dispelled rumors of a fourth body being located in Marion County recently, stating that while a grim anomaly, Fairmont has had three and not four deceased persons located outdoors in the past month.
As for the Fairmont cases, Shine restated that “these individuals are not unresolved missing persons from our agency.”
Fairmont police ask if anyone has additional information or is concerned that one of the two unknown individuals may be someone reported missing to another agency to contact their Detective Division at 304-366-2217.
On the opposite side of Monongalia County, a body was discovered across the Pennsylvania border in Point Marion over the weekend. That person has been identified as Larry Greene, 50, of Bobtown, Pa.
