Man who found body shares experience

UPDATE (5/15/23): Dyersburg police confirm the body has been identified and says the family has been notified.

DYERSBURG, Tenn. — Authorities are investigating after a body was found in one local town.

According to the Dyersburg Police Department on Facebook, they discovered a body in an alley behind West Market Street in Dyersburg around 9:30 a.m.

Police said they discovered the body behind a used cooking oil container behind a wall and a container.

But how did the body get there?

Police showed surveillance footage from the nearby juvenile court building to the owner of a business and the individuals who discovered the body that worked there.

They told our crews, from viewing the footage, it appeared the man climbed on top of the roof of the nearby business.

While on the roof, the video shows that he heads to the corner facing the alley and jumped off.

The video shows the man caught himself on the powerline and managed to hold on for a few seconds before losing his grip and falling around 30 feet.

They say after falling, he was injured and bleeding, but was still able to move around.

He then tried to climb a shipping container nearby, but couldn’t, so he climbed on top of the used cooking oil container where he stood for a while before he fell behind it in between the container and the wall.

“The body was laying behind this cooking oil dispensary,” said Jeff Hinson, who works at a nearby business. “It was pretty gruesome.”

Hinson said when he and a coworker got into work Friday morning, they spotted the body behind the container.

He says when he first arrived, he thought it could have been placed there.

“My first thought, I thought someone probably got stuffed behind the oil…cooking oil thing,” Hinson said.

It wasn’t until after he viewed the footage with police that he began to think this was an accidental death.

While the Dyersburg Police Department chose not to appear on camera, we did briefly speak with their criminal investigative division.

They told us the case is under investigation and they have not yet identified the body at this time.

If you have any information that could help authorities, call the Dyersburg Police Department at (731) 285-1212.

Find updates on local crime here.