Circumstances of Discovery
Hunters discovered the victim's partially decomposed body hanging from a tree in a wooded area in the vicinity of DeKalb County 51 and Alabama 227 near the Etowah County line. The man apparently committed suicide by probably standing on stacked logs and hanging himself from a rope tied to a tree.
In September 1991, a few months before the discovery of the remains, an abandoned blue 1982 Ford Escort with North Dakota license plate BBU178 was located in a chert pit near where the victim was found. The car was towed to a garage in Collinsville but was not initially searched because it was not reported stolen.
After the discovery of the victim, officers searched the car on December 22, 1991. They found several items: a Pizza Hut receipt dated August 27, 1991 from Cullman, Alabama; a ticket stub from Smith Lake, Cullman; a piece of paper bearing the phone number of St. Benedictine's Abbey in Cullman; a notebook; a forged birth certificate from Washington state in the name of Damon Hunter; a blank birth certificate from Washington state; and a note, which read "I have a gun. If the cops come, I will kill everyone in here, then myself. Put all the fifties, twenties and tens in a large envelope with this note quickly and calmly." The note led to speculation that the man may have robbed a bank or business.
Investigators traced the car to the Donaldson Hotel in Fargo, North Dakota. A man using the name "Damon Hunter" had purchased the car there. The man, known as Hunter, checked into the hotel on August 5 and paid $17.20 for one night. The next day, he paid an additional $53.75 for another week.
Police called St. Benedictine's Abbey, where someone told officers that a white male called the Abbey during the late summer of 1991. The young man said he was in serious financial trouble. He said the people he owed had already assaulted him and threatened his parents. The man also said he was considering robbery to obtain the money he needed. The identity of the man who called the abbey and his connection to the abandoned vehicle and the skeleton have not been determined.
