CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. — An investigation is underway after the body of an 8-year-old boy was found in some woods behind a home owned by the boy's family in Chickamauga, Ga., Thursday evening.
The boy's body was found about 50 yards away from the family's home, the release said.
Speaking with Chattanooga TV station WRCB, he said authorities initially had received a call at about 8 p.m. Thursday after the boy's maternal grandmother and mother's boyfriend had found him in the woods.
"Went into the wooded area behind the home, probably about 30 to 35 ft. or so there's an old building that's dilapidated, and the boyfriend and the maternal grandmother found him lying there," Wilson said.
He said that while they are looking at all possibilities, at the time they found his body, there were no obvious signs of the cause of his death.
The sheriff's office has requested the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to help with processing the scene and investigating the incident.
Detectives and GBI agents have been examining the area where the boy was found Thursday night and Friday morning.
In addition, they have been interviewing the adults and children who lived at or were connected with the boy's home.
On Friday, Wilson was able to confirm that the boy had become ill at school on Thursday morning and was picked up by his mother at about 10 a.m. The boy was a second-grader at Chattanooga Valley Elementary School.
Wilson said it is not known whether his illness is somehow connected with the boy's death.
According to WRCB, Walker County School Superintendent Damon Raines released a statement on Friday.
"We are saddened by this loss and are keeping this family in our thoughts and prayers," the statement read.
The GBI Crime Lab is conducting an autopsy on the boy to determine a cause for his death.
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