UPDATE: Coroner identifies person found dead Sunday as missing 18-year-old Luis Hernandez
Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones says a body was found Sunday afternoon in a wooded area near the Lake Wildwood spillway.
UPDATE (5:38 p.m.): Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones has confirmed the person found dead Sunday afternoon is 18-year-old Luis Marco Hernandez, who was reported missing last month after last being seen on December 19.
Jones says the body was found “about a mile and a half” back in the woods. He says crews went in off Greentree Parkway near the Lake Wildwood spillway and came out on Northridge Drive, which is off Price Road.
The family’s search party discovered Hernandez’s body earlier Sunday, Jones said.
Jones says Hernandez appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that the Macon-Bibb Fire Department used a utility terrain vehicle to remove the body from the woods.
We’re awaiting additional details from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.
ORIGINAL STORY (4:08 p.m.):
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones says a body was found Sunday afternoon in a wooded area near the Lake Wildwood spillway.
Several law enforcement and other emergency vehicles were on the scene just before 4 p.m.
Jones said he wasn’t able to confirm the person’s identify yet and that he was on the way to the location in what he called “treacherous woods.”
Family members of 18-year-old Luis Hernandez posted in the Lake Wildwood Residents Facebook group earlier Sunday they were in the area looking for him. He had been missing since December 19. When asked if the person found dead was Hernandez, Jones said he believed it was but hadn’t made it to the scene yet.
We’ve reached out to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office for more information.
This was the scene at the Lake Wildwood spillway Sunday afternoon. (Photo: Tucker Sargent)
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
