HOT SPRINGS -- A body found Jan. 17 in a vacant lot at a Hot Springs intersection was identified Monday by police as a missing 18-year-old man from Mountain Pine.
Hot Springs police said in a news release that an autopsy revealed the man, Darrell Augustus Stipes, died as the result of "accidental hypothermia."
It is the first death a Hot Springs law enforcement agency has attributed to hypothermia after arctic air entered the state earlier this month.
Cpl. Kirk Zaner said a passer-by spotted Stipes' body and alerted police Jan. 17. The body was later sent to the state Crime Laboratory for an autopsy and for a positive identification.
Stipes was reported as missing to the Garland County sheriff's office on Dec. 5 and last seen Dec. 15 at Jackson House.
In the days leading up to the discovery of his body, temperatures plummeted below freezing and remained there for several days. St. Luke's Episcopal Church operated a warming center during the height of the cold weather. At one point last week, 47 people spent the night at the center, and 300 meals were served.
State Desk on 01/23/2018