Police found the body of an Arkansas teenager in a wooded area in Mississippi three days after his mother reported him missing, officials said.
The Yalobusha County Sheriff’s department and the West Memphis Police Department said the body of Fredarrious Wilson, 18, who was reported missing on March 5, had been found in a remote area of the Holly Springs forest on March 8.
The victim’s mother, Shirley Howell, told reporters that she had become fraught with worry about him when he didn’t return home on Sunday, March 5, after informing her that he and his classmate were going out on a date. She said that she had learned later that he met up with someone else after the date.
Howell said in a Facebook post that her son had no enemies and that he was not a troubled or problematic child. She said that he spent his time like most kids his age, attending school and playing games.
Investigators started their search for the teen immediately after the missing person’s report and they eventually tracked his phone to a location somewhere near the forest in Yalobusha County.
However, it wasn’t until a forest service employee spotted a body while working off County Road 243 that the missing teen was found.
Speaking to reporters after the body was discovered, Yalobusha County Sheriff, Jerimaine Gooch, said that their search team had searched the area near where the body was found for more than six hours the night before the discovery but that their search had been unsuccessful due to the remoteness of the area.
The cause of death was not immediately made public, but his mother said police had informed her that he had multiple gunshot wounds. According to the latest updates, officials are investigating the death of the teen as a homicide.
Howell said that her son had been spotted with a woman on surveillance footage at a West Memphis McDonalds on March 5.
Police have yet to identify or name a person of interest in connection with the case.
According to Sheriff Gooch, the department is focusing all its efforts on the investigation, attempting to find out who killed the teen and to make an arrest as soon as possible.
The Academies of West Memphis High School, where Wilson was a senior, described him as a kind young man with a magnetic personality and expressed their heartfelt condolences to his grieving family and friends.
