Photo by Sue Watson
Pictured at the gravesite in Asbury Cemetery near Waterford Monday morning are Kelly McMillen, Chris Glasson, Jason Mills, Cody Teel and Scooter Pipkin.
Body exhumed for autopsy
The remains of a Marshall County resident who died January 7, 2010, were exhumed Monday by Holly Springs Funeral Home and law enforcement officers.
Maj. Kelly McMillen, with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, said the remains are being examined by the state medical examiner’s office in Pearl because the cause of death did not line up with certain information in the deceased’s medical records.
Joshua Michael Dague spent a week at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., before he died, McMillen said. Members of Dague’s family were in agreement with the autopsy, he said. He was buried in Asbury Cemetery, January 12, 2010, a small, old cemetery up in the woods off Robert Ford Road south of Waterford.
The case was opened in September 2015, after Dague’s mother contacted investigators.
“She had received information that her son had possibly been poisoned,” McMillen said. “She wanted to know what direction to go to have his body exhumed and sent for autopsy.”
Investigations at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department were undertaken to obtain hospital and medical records. All available information was sent to the medical examiner’s office in Jackson to be evaluated by a pathologist to see if there was any indication of possible poison being in the deceased’s remains.
“After a period of time, the medical examiner indicated the only way to determine if any type of toxins were in his remains was to exhume the body for autopsy,” McMillen said.
On site during the exhumation were deputies McMillen, Jordan Brock, Cody Teel, Eddie Thompson and Jason Mills, coroner James Richard Anderson, Chris Glasson with the district attorney’s office, and Scooter Pipkin with Holly Springs Funeral Home.
The most recent burial at Asbury was in 2013. The first persons buried in the cemetery were born in 1817 or thereabout.
Anyone who has information that could contribute to the investigation is asked to call the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department at 662-252-1311 and ask to speak with Sheriff Kenny Dickerson or investigations.