By By MARY-ALLISON LANCASTER
Managing editor
Law enforcement officials suspect foul play in the death of a 74-year-old man who was found in front of his trailer on Judge Level Road just outside the Damascus community around 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, law enforcement officials said.
Police officials identified the victim as Eugene Dubose. He lived alone in his trailer.
Dubose's body was visible from a muddied dirt road just outside his trailer home on Thursday, where sheriff's deputies, the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Mobile and the Alabama Bureau of Investigations collected evidence Thursday.
Officials were covering the crime scene as sweat poured off their eyebrows. A donkey could be seen roaming in the un-shaded lot next door to the trailer. The body was lying in the shade underneath a white tent erected by law enforcement officials.
According to Smith, Dubose was supposed to meet some friends for breakfast on Thursday morning. When he failed to show up, his friends drove over to his trailer home.
Smith said that it appeared Dubose's body had been lying in the yard for a while. He could not exactly pinpoint how long Dubose had been dead.
An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death and details would follow as the investigation develops. All unattended deaths are treated as a homicide.
This is the second dead body found in Escambia County (Ala.) this week. Sheriff officials, along with East Brewton Police Department, responded to a call on Tuesday morning when the body of Jeff Grantham had been found. The two incidents are not connected.
Smith could not comment on how Dubose died, pending the ongoing investigation.