PINEVILLE -
Sheriff's Deputies made a gruesome discovery Friday afternoon in the backyard of this house they found a dead body floating in the pool. Now, investigators said this is a missing person case turned into a murder investigation.
Officials said Friday afternoon a house attendant discovered a dead body at this abandoned home along Bear Branch Road. While the medical examiner has not made a positive identification.. Sheriff Aliff said officials suspect the body to be Chester Stewart-- a man who went missing in August.
"We found identification on the man saying it was Chester Stewart but we have not received official word from the medical examiner yet," Wyoming County Sheriff Randall Aliff said.
Even though Sheriff Deputies are waiting for the official ID, Sheriff Aliff said they are not treating this death as just an accident.
"He was actually floating in the pool and there was some decomposition to the body and it had been there so long. And as of right now we are conducting this as a murder investigation," Sheriff Aliff continued.
Stewart had been unaccounted for since August, 2011, when he, Brian Cook, Rachel Toler and Sherry Myers were all reported missing in Wyoming County within days of each other.
Toler's remains were recovered in October, also in Matheny. Cook and Myers are still missing.
The State Police have been called in to assist with the investigation and right now they cannot determine if the cases are connected.
"They are similarities but as far as being able to classify them as a group, right now I'm not going to say that," Sergeant R.A Maddy with the West Virginia State Police said.
Investigators said they are not ruling anything out.
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