BasehorInfo.com

The cause of death of a man found near 150th Street and State Avenue in Basehor Sunday afternoon has been determined a suicide.

According to Basehor Police Chief Lloyd Martley, around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Daryl Potts and his two sons noticed a strange smell while clearing brush near a pond on their property just north of State Avenue on 150th Street.

The older son, Jake Potts, 16, was the first one to notice the body.

“I thought it was a deer,” he said Monday. “I walked past it twice.”

His third trip past the body, which was slumped up against a tree in a heavily wooded area just inside the property line, he discovered the source of the smell was actually a human body.

The man also had one sleeve of a jacket tied around his neck while the other sleeve was tied to a tree branch above him, Martley said. The coroner who performed the autopsy Monday afternoon determined that the preliminary cause of death was suicide by hanging.

It was originally estimated the man’s body had been there for three to six months since it was so badly decomposed and he was wearing heavy clothing, however Martley said the coroner estimated it may have only been there for a month or two.

“The coroner said you can go from walking to bones in seven days depending on the conditions,” Martley said. “The weather could have increased the decomposition process.”

The only other information police know about the man at this time is that he was about 5 feet 4 inches tall. His identity is still under investigation.