GREENVILLE – Authorities have identified the body of a man found in the woods last week as that of 58-year old missing Greenville businessman George Arnold. Arnold was found Thursday by rabbit hunters on Daddis Road, near Benoit.
The body was sent to the crime lab in Jackson for an autopsy, and investigators confirmed that Arnold had been shot several times and had also sustained blunt force trauma to the head and body.
Investigator Charlie Griffin, of the Bolivar County Sheriff’s Department, said Arnold’s body was fully clothed when found and that the recent cold weather had helped preserve the body. Authorities also said, however, that the cold weather made it difficult to determine Arnold’s exact time of death.
Arnold was first reported missing on Jan. 23, after his father and an employee found pools of blood at his home on Highway 82 east, in Greenville, about 8:30 a.m.
When emergency units responded to Arnold’s home, the residence quickly became a crime scene.
“When [Arnold’s] father woke up, he found the door was open,” said Captain Andrew Kaho, of the Greenville Police Department. “And by the time he walked out of the residence, the mechanic was pulling up, and that’s when he noticed blood on the car port and on the grass, and the victim’s truck was gone.”
Kaho said nothing in the house Arnold shared with his parents seemed out of place, but the struggle apparently took place outside.
“Nothing was missing from the residence,” he said. “And due to the amount of blood on the scene and the different areas of the yard where the blood was located, it appears everything happened outside.”
Kaho said when Arnold’s vehicle was found two hours later, on the opposite side of town, it also showed large amounts of blood inside.
“There was a significant amount of blood located on the passenger’s side,” Kaho said. “And someone had attempted to burn the inside of the vehicle with an unknown type of liquid.”
Authorities believe Arnold was murdered at his residence and later “dumped” in the woods in Bolivar County. Griffin said the wooded area where Arnold was found is also being treated as a crime scene.
Kaho said authorities have no suspects in Arnold’s murder and no apparent motive for his slaying. Kaho said Arnold rented property to local businesses.
Printed reports said that Arnold, known as “Bubba”, previously worked for several car dealerships in the Greenville area before moving to south Mississippi “to take care of his family.”
Kaho said Arnold’s mother was in the hospital at the time of his murder.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations is assisting Greenville Police on this case, and anyone with information can call the police department at 662-378-1515 or Crimestoppers at 662-378-TIPS. A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest.
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