Man’s body found on porch of abandoned house in east Athens

By Joe Johnson

The decomposing body of a man was found last week on the back porch of an abandoned house in the 4500 block of Lexington Road.

It appeared to be that of a 70-year-old man whose Texas driver’s license was found nearby.

The body was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation forensics laboratory for positive identification.

The body was discovered last Friday morning by a man who had been driving in the area and stopped to urinate behind the dilapidated structure that’s across from Southeast Clarke Park.

“I figure that he had been there at least a month or longer,” said county Coroner Sonny Wilson. “He was in very advanced decomposition “

Wilson said that the man “appeared to be a homeless person who had been living on the back porch of this abandoned house.”