Authorities Investigating After Property Owners Discover Body In Cleveland County

Authorities are investigating after a body was found near a burned car on a property in rural Cleveland County.

The property owner, Rich Rider, said he was mowing the grass when he came across a body and a car he's never seen before. He said from there his home became a crime scene.

“Honestly, I just kind of looked at him at first and I had to take a second glance because you don't expect that whenever you're coming down to mow or just on your own property,” Rider said.

Rider said unfortunately this isn't the first time he's had tragedy strike.

“We've had a tornado come through here, a family member lost their life during that. My dad got murdered over here. So, we're really a good family, but we just have bad luck or something I don't know,” Rider said.

He said he has no doubt there is something suspicious about how this body and car showed up on his property.

“We live in a kind of rural community. There's a lot of meth out here. Just my own suspicion, I’m pretty confident though he's tied to the house next to me which is a very bad house,” Rider said.

Rider said he's never seen the person before.

“One of the other local crackheads stopped by my house the day before yesterday handing out missing persons flyers,” Rider said.

He believes the two could be related.

“He needs closure. The family needs closure. We've been through it before. I know how the family feels,” Rider said.

Rider said he believes the body could've been there for a week or two. Right now, investigators are still working to learn the identity of the person found and details about how they ended up there.