JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have found a body while attempting to serve a search warrant on a kidnapping suspect.
The discovery was made Tuesday on a property southwest of Joplin after 47-year-old Freddie Tilton surrendered following a standoff. Newton County deputies and Joplin police had gone to the property intending to conduct a search after receiving a tip that there was a body in some woods on the property, The Joplin Globe reports.
Sheriff Chris Jennings said the body, which hasn't been identified, had not been buried and was found in a state of decomposition that would indicate that the death had taken place “more than a couple of days” ago. Investigators believe the victim was slain. No charges have been filed in connection to the body.
But Tilton is in federal custody after having been charged in federal court on Tuesday in the kidnapping of an ex-girlfriend who had taken out a protection order against him. His federal public defender didn't immediately return a phone message Wednesday by The Associated Press.
