Detectives wait for cause of death

VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - Indiana State Police detectives wait for an official cause of death for Charles Raymond Chumley Jr. before moving forward with a criminal investigation.

The Vigo County coroner identified Chumley as the body that was found Sunday afternoon.

Troopers said they were a little surprised by where Chumley was found in northeastern Vigo County. They also said until toxicology reports come back there's no hard evidence anything criminal happened.

Chumley's body was found Sunday afternoon near Grotto Road and Miami Gardens Street in Vigo County. Though his missing person investigation is over, as of yet, there's no open criminal investigation. That could change with the results of the toxicology report in a couple weeks.

The coroner found no serious injuries on the body and has not determined the cause of death.

"This time of year, it could have been a number of things, exposure, injuries, a number of things that could have happened," said Indiana State Police Sgt. Joe Watts. "He could have been disoriented in the darkness and the woods lost his way, due to the exposure, could have perished. A number of things could have happened."

Chumley was last seen three months ago on Miami Gardens Street about a half mile from his parents' home. Investigators searched the area twice by airplane joined by several dozen friends and family members of Chumley on the ground.

Watts said they used the parents home as a central point for the search. That's about a mile north of where his body was found.

"To our knowledge, no one had been in the woods area where he was actually located because all the information that we had was that he should be a mile north of where he was located, if not a mile and a half north of where he was located," said Watts.

Chumley's family told News 10 they are upset because the state police did not bring out dogs to search. Watts said because of weather, investigators did not think dogs would be any help.

The Chumley family has set up a fund in Charles Chumley's name at First Financial Bank. Money raised will help pay them pay for funeral expenses.