Family: Groundskeeper Mowed Around Dead Man

Family members of a man found dead in North Carolina claim a groundskeeper mowed around his lifeless body, believing it was a dummy. The groundskeeper spotted the body in the yard of an abandoned house in China Grove on Oct. 9, a day after family members had last seen 34-year-old Robert Owens alive, according to a GoFundMe page. Owens' body was "stripped of his clothes and belongings, leaving him in his underwear and socks," writes Haley Reavis, per Fox News. There were also scratches on Owens' body and glass around him, according to the page. Yet the lawn care employee assumed the body was "Halloween decorations or a mannequin for K9 training," Reavis writes. She notes no one lived at the property, which was "used for K9 training for years."

China Grove Police Chief Andrew Deal tells Fox that the groundskeeper "to my knowledge did not think it was a Halloween prop." The individual instead assumed the body was a training dummy used "by numerous law agencies on the property over the last few years," police say, per People. A construction crew foreman finally reported the body on Oct. 10. Authorities now view the death as "suspicious." An autopsy identified no signs of trauma to the body, though a toxicology report is pending. The GoFundMe page notes, "Your demon you battled here on Earth is over, may you rest in peace." "We have evidence that has been handed over to the detective," adds Reavis. "If you're reading this and you were involved ... you will get what you deserve very soon." (More dead body stories.)