Man arrested on murder charge after body of missing man found inside well in Lee County
Authorities in Lee County, Alabama, have charged a suspect in the death of a 72-year-old man whose body was found Sunday night in a well in Beulah.
The victim was identified as James Edmund Clark, who lived on Lee Road 380, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said in a press release.
Lee County sheriff’s investigators have charged 58-year-old Hubert Timothy Sprayberry of Valley, Alabama, with murder in Clark’s death, officials said. Clark and Sprayberry were acquaintances, they said.
A post-mortem examination at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences showed Clark died from being stabbed and shot, before his body was dumped in the well, authorities said.
Clark had not been seen for three weeks before he was reported missing on Dec. 19, they said.
Investigators probing Clark’s disappearance were serving a search warrant Sunday night at a home in the 9000 block of Lee Road 279 when they found the body, said Harris, who added it took several agencies 2½ hours to retrieve the remains from the well.
“It is still unclear at this time as to what transpired leading up to the death,” Harris said in the release.
Anyone with information on Clark’s death is asked to call the Lee County Sheriff at 334-749-5651, the Lee County Crime Stoppers line at 888-522-7847, or the Lee County Coroner Secret Witness Line at 334-742-4339.
Harris identified the agencies assisting in recovering Clark’s body Sunday night as Opelika Fire and Rescue, Beulah Fire and Rescue, the Lee County Emergency Management Agency and the Tallapoosa County Rescue Squad.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 2:58 PM.