Authorities identify body that children found in the woods and didn’t report

The coroner’s office has identified the body two children found in Columbus on Sunday, when they took pictures of it and did not report it, instead showing the images off at school Monday before a teacher saw the photos and called 911.

Deputy Coroner Charles Newton said a caregiver viewing the body at the morgue Monday evening identified David Lee Wilson, 69, reported missing after he was last seen Jan. 18 on Brazil Avenue.

Columbus police in a Jan. 23 news release asked the public to be on the lookout for Wilson, described then as having been wearing a black tank top, black vest, black jacket, black jeans, blue shoes and a red cap. That description matches the clothing on the body, Newton said.

The body will be sent to the state crime lab Thursday for an autopsy, he said. It had no obvious signs of any physical trauma, so no cause of death was apparent.

Police were called at 2:19 p.m. Monday after a teacher saw students showing off the photos. The body was in the woods behind athletic fields off Clover Avenue south of Cusseta Road near the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus. Newton said he pronounced the man dead at 3 p.m.

Attempts to get fingerprints for identification were unsuccessful, he said. Suspecting it was the same man reported missing earlier, authorities asked his caregiver to come by the morgue, where she identified Wilson around 5 p.m., Newton said.

This story was originally published January 28, 2019 at 4:23 PM.