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Couple discovers body hanging inside historic barn

By  Stephanie Springer  - bio | email

ALBANY, GA (WALB) –A couple from Tallahassee stopped by the barn on Highway 27 to take a break. When they stepped inside, they spotted a man with a rope around his neck, hanging from the rafters.

Investigators are trying to figure out the identity of the dead man and just what happened to him.

Since the 1930's, this barn has caught the eye of hundreds of travelers passing through Miller County.

"There used to be a big sign on it that said Rock City, that's what everyone calls it around here Rock City barn," said Sheriff Buddy Glass.

For a Tallahassee couple, the Rock City barn looked like a good spot to take a break, but they found out quickly it was just the opposite.

"The young man walked out to the barn and found the body hanging from the ceiling, he called 911," said the Sheriff.

The man's body was hanging from a rope and was badly decomposed. "The body looked like it had been there for several weeks," said the Sheriff.

Now investigators are working to determine who he is and why he was in the barn. "We think it maybe just a transient traveling through the area but we have no body in our area reported missing," said the Sheriff.

Now neighbors have questions surrounding such a shocking find. "Everybody is wondering why and how it really happened," said neighbor Arnold Whitaker.

With people picking cotton and a burning cotton picker neighbors say it's a wonder the body wasn't discovered earlier.

"Last week is when the tractor burnt up so I don't understand why a body was up there for several weeks without anyone noticing," said Lorenza Thompson.

"The owner and whoever brought the cotton picker they were working on it right there at the barn," said Whitaker.

But regardless of what happened, neighbors and law enforcement officials are still in shock over the discovery.

"If I was just a traveler and ran up on it yeah it would be scary," said the Sheriff.

"I would probably turn around and run," said Arnold Whitaker.

Now when people pass by the barn, its not the barns history but the yellow crime scene tape that stops them.

GBI agents say they treat any death like this as a homicide, but the Sheriff said they says they found a tire rim propped up next to the body, which leads them to believe it could be a suicide, but no official word until they get those autopsy results back.

GBI Agents don't yet know when they'll have autopsy results.

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