With an autopsy set for Wednesday morning in Washington County, sheriff’s deputies and the Indiana State Police hope to find answers as to the identification and cause of death for a body found in the woods near Little York.
Until then, police are still looking for leads relating to the case of a missing Washington County man that led them to find the body on Monday.
Police had been searching for Skyler Naugle, 35, who had been reported missing on Saturday, July 21 but had not been seen since the previous Monday.
Although Goodin said earlier today in a press release there is a “good probability” the body found was that of Naugle, he said during a press conference this afternoon at the Sellersburg Post that police can’t report if the body they found is male or female, clothed or not – until there is an autopsy to reveal lots of information.
“We do not know the cause of death. Don’t know exactly who it is,” said Goodin. “We have to maintain the crime scene. We don’t know what evidence we’re looking for until the autopsy is completed. We’re calling it a death investigation. We can’t reveal how we found the body or where we found the body. [We’re] hoping to get a lot of answers from the autopsy…we have a lot of questions.
Goodin said police found the body Monday while searching for Naugle. The body was so decomposed police couldn’t identify the body or tell what the cause of death was.
“We don’t know how the body was so decomposed,” said Goodin. “The pathlogist will have to answer that. We’ve had several 100 degree days. We’ve had wind and rain. The unfortunate fact is that we haven’t been able to make a 100 percent identification to make those notifications to family members. We have to deal in facts. In 100 percentiles. Unless we can absolutely say who this is, we’re going to wait.”
Goodin did ask those living in the Little York area to be vigilent, keep their doors locked and report any suspicious activity to police.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Department can be reached at 812.883.5999 and the Indiana State Police – Sellersburg Post can be contact at at 1.800.872-6743.
MISSING PERSONS REPORT
According to Washington County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy, the case started out last week as a missing person’s report.
Deputy Brent Miller said the family contacted the sheriff’s department on Saturday to report Naugle missing.
“We began to check around the county,” said Miller. “We’ve been working with the Pekin Town Marshall, Conservation Officers and Salem Police Department….All working together.”
Police turned up Monday at a house on 7707 East New Cut Road in Little York.
According to ISP Sgt. Jerry Goodin, police knew that Naugle was acquainted with the people there and had gone there in search of clues to his whereabouts.
“We think they were acquaintances,” said Goodin during the press conference. “There is nothing out of the ordinary on why he was there. We went there because we knew they were acquaintances.”
As officers began speaking with an occupant of the property they gained enough information to believe Naugle had been to the property before he went missing.
At this point, police obtained permission to search the property from an owner and they also obtained a search warrant.
“We can’t say where the body was found” said Goodin. “It was in a huge wooded area. The home is built inside a wooded area. We’re staying away from specific location.”
NAUGLE’S CRIMINAL PAST
During the conference, Miller said Naugle was known to local law enforcement.
“We have never worked a missing person case on [Naugle],” said Miller. “We do know him. It’s a small community. Everybody knows everybody. Skyler has had a couple of run ins with the law in the past.”
Looking up Naugle’s record, he had been arrested several times for theft.
- December 30, 2003 – Burglary, theft, habitual offender.
- December 12, 2009 – Robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, robbery – defendant armed, habitual offender.
- April 11, 2016 – Washington County, arrested for possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, maintaining a common nuisance, habitual offender.
- August 4, 2016 – Washington County, arrested for possession of paraphernalia.
- October 24, 2016 – Washington County, arrested for theft and charged as an habitual offender.
- November 10, 2016 – Washington County, theft.
- February 2, 2017 – Jennings County, arrested for two counts of burglary and two counts of theft
- January 10, 2017 – Washington County, arrested on three counts of auto theft, with habitual offender enhancement, maintaining a common nuisance.
Naugle also had four infractions in Scott County, one in Floyd County and one in Allen County.
