Man's death ruled drowning after body found in Arkansas pond, authorities say

Shawn Miller, 29
Shawn Miller, 29

A man’s death has been ruled a drowning after his body was found in a pond Tuesday in Arkansas, authorities say.

Shawn Miller, 29, had been discovered by his aunt in a pond that morning in the 3200 block of Wheeler Chapel Road, which is south of Pine Bluff, according to the Jefferson County sheriff’s office.

Jefferson County coroner Chad Kelley pronounced Miller dead at the scene. Miller had no visible injuries to his body, authorities said.

His body was taken to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock, where an autopsy determined that he had died of “drowning by natural death,” the sheriff’s office said Thursday.

Maj. Lafayette Woods Jr., a sheriff’s office spokesman, said investigators had classified Miller’s death as a homicide early on because “becoming submerged in water may be a secondary rather than primary event.”

The sheriff’s office is awaiting other reports from the medical examiner as part of the agency’s ongoing investigation.

In a email sent Friday evening, the spokesman said there was no reason to think Miller's death was a homicide.

"At this point we're interested in determining what caused Miller to get in the water," Woods said.

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