Salvadore Chavez

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Body Found in Barrow County Georgia 11-17-2008 [ID: SALVADORE CHAVEZ]



Body Found In Abandoned Barrow County Home

Monday, November 17, 2008 – updated: 12:16 pm EST November 17, 2008
BARROW COUNTY, Ga. -- Barrow County authorities and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents spent Monday investigating an apparent homicide after a body was found in an abandoned house.

Police said hikers found the body in the home Sunday at 5 p.m. Officials spent Monday on the scene collecting evidence.

The home is located on Highway 8, adjacent to the Winder-Barrow County Airport and towards Statham.

Police said they do not know who the victim is. The body was so badly decomposed that officials will have to wait for a medical examiner to determine if the person is a male or female.

Police said they are investigating the case as a homicide.

Channel 2 has a crew headed to the scene. Please refresh this developing story for updates.

www.wsbtv.com/news/17998446/detail.html

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Person of Interest

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Break in murder case as body identified

Remains found last year in barrow

By Merritt Melancon | [e-mail]
Story updated at 11:52 pm on 4/15/2009


Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents identified Wednesday the man whose remains were found in November behind a vacant house east of Winder.
GBI experts used fingerprints to identify the remains as Salvador Chavez, 46, of Gwinnett County, according to a statement released by Matt Guthas, a spokesman for the Barrow County Sheriff's Office.
But even before investigators knew who Chavez was, they knew he had been murdered.
His identification is the first break investigators have had in tracking down his killer.
"This is a big part of this case, and investigators are following all leads that stem from this identification," Guthas said. "I can't tell you what they are, but I can tell you that they are working on leads."
Hikers found Chavez's decomposed body Nov. 16 in the woods behind an empty house at 998 Atlanta Highway near the Northeast Georgia Regional Airport.
Investigators almost immediately labeled the man's death a homicide because he had been shot and the body burned, Barrow County Coroner David Crosby said at the time.
Chavez's body was in a heavily wooded area behind a house between Crosby and Edgar roads that was vacant and had been for sale for several years. His body could have been behind the house for a month before it was found, according to Jim Fullington, special agent in charge of the GBI's Athens office.
In December, forensic artist Marla Lawson reconstructed Chavez's face and the GBI posted photos of how the man may have looked.
Neither the Gwinnett Police Department and the Barrow County Sheriff's Office ever took a missing person report on Chavez.

onlineathens.com/stories/0416...29686024.shtml