The man was identified as Brian K. Volz, a 53-year-old white man who was discovered in a wooded area in the 2400 block of North Verity Parkway. Schneider said his cause and manner of death are listed as pending further investigation while the coroner’s office awaits lab results.
The office asks anyone who can help to contact officials at www.butlercountycoroner.org/contact_us/index.php.
Middletown police Maj. Scott Reeve said there was no additional information on Volz’s death as of Wednesday afternoon.
According to the incident report, Volz’s body was found after 5 p.m. along a wooded tree line behind the Travel Host Inn, 2425 N. Verity Parkway by a 17-year-old youth. Police also found syringe caps and wrappers laying on the ground near his body. Two other juveniles who were there initially thought Volz was sleeping on the ground and was possibly homeless. As they got closer, they saw Volz’s face and realized that he was deceased. A coroner’s investigator also found a syringe several feet away from the body.
Volz’s body was then taken to the coroner’s office.
Schneider said if a next of kin cannot be located to claim the body, state law requires the municipality to cremate the body and bury the remains.
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