Low water level helps Mississippi city employee find body believed to be missing man

Published 11:34 pm Saturday, October 21, 2023

A maintenance worker for a Mississippi city found a body that could be that of a man missing since September.

According to the Columbus Police Department, Cpl. Chris Ware received information from a Columbus Housing Authority employee Saturday morning about the body. The worker told officers that he went to Lake Norris in the area where Robert Hargrove wrecked his car.

“The maintenance worker had put his boat in the water,” the statement reads. “While looking around, he found a body under some overhanging trees partially on the land and in the water. The water level had receded as well.”

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Columbus Fire and Rescue was notified to take their boat and personnel and the Lowndes County Coroner was notified. CFD and the Coroner Carol Culpepper responded and retrieved the body. The body was in poor condition; however, from some tattoos left on the skin and the attire on the body, it is presumed by responders to be Hargrove. Hargrove has been missing since September 29.

The coroner will determine whether to send the body to Jackson for an autopsy and possible DNA confirmation.