Body found along the Withlacoochee

Published 9:34 pm Wednesday, September 2, 2009

HAHIRA — A fisherman found a dead body Wednesday morning by a bridge on Highway 122.

The incident is being treated as a suspicious death, but a preliminary investigation suggests the death appears to have been caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Lowndes County Sheriff’s Capt. Wanda Edwards.

At about 9 a.m. Wednesday, a man going fishing discovered a body under a bridge crossing the Withlacoochee River several miles to the east of Hahira, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.

The body was that of a male. He had been shot in the head and a firearm was reportedly discovered by the body, Edwards said.

The body has been identified as Trampus Bailey of Hahira, who was born in 1980, Edwards said. He had not been reported missing. The death is believed to have occurred late Tuesday or early Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office.

The unidentified fisherman reportedly told authorities that he had picked a bad day to go fishing. Yet, if someone had not visited the Withlacoochee under the bridge, the body could possibly have remained undiscovered for an indefinite period of time.

Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson said Bailey’s body will be sent to the State Crime Lab Thursday for an autopsy.