Man finds body while searching for brother’s dog after crash, deputies say

ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. — Alexander County deputies said a man found a body while searching for his brother’s dog after a crash.

According to investigators, a man was hospitalized after a crash Tuesday morning along County Home Road near Taylorsville. Deputies said the man’s dog, which was with him at the time of the crash, ran away from the accident scene, so the victim’s brother went back to the scene to find the dog.

While searching for his brother’s dog, deputies said the man spotted a wallet about 50 yards into the woods and then found a body nearby. The sheriff believes the body may be someone who was reported missing five weeks ago.

Authorities said North Carolina identification with the name Jason Anthony Riddle, of Stony Point, with a birthday of Mar. 17, 1982 was found in the wallet. On Sept. 9, Riddle was reported missing by a family member.

The Medical Examiner is working to confirm the body’s identity and cause of death.

“You have to feel like everything has some sort of meaning. If he hadn’t of crashed, we wouldn’t have found it, you know,” Gabriel Dula told Channel 9 after finding the body.

Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman told Channel 9 that he also believes divine intervention may have played a role in the series of events.

“In my opinion, the man above was looking after us because like I said, we’ve been searching for this person for approximately five weeks now,” he said.

Bowman said the driver involved in the wreck was hospitalized and expected to recover. Investigators said the crash and the death investigation are unrelated.

The sheriff said the remains were badly decomposed, and he is hoping an autopsy will provide more answers to what happened.

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