A Jefferson County man whose body was found in a pond Tuesday died of drowning, authorities say.
The body of Shawn Miller, 29, was discovered by his aunt Tuesday in an area south of Pine Bluff, according to the Jefferson County sheriff's office.
Jefferson County coroner Chad Kelley pronounced Miller dead at the scene in the 3200 block of Wheeler Chapel Road. Miller had no visible injuries on his body, authorities said.
His body was taken to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock, where it was determined that he 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.
Woods said in an email sent Friday evening that 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.
State Desk on 09/23/2017