Authorities in Marion County say a mail carrier found the body of 50-year-old Kenneth Hudson lying alongside Shellmound Road late Monday near the Shellmound Road exit on Interstate 24.
Marion County Detective Chad Johnson said early Tuesday that Hudson, of Francis Spring Road, Jasper, was carrying identification with him, but his truck is still missing.
Investigators say he had been shot in the head.
Johnson said Hudson used to own a restaurant in Jasper and was known around the community. He lived just inside the city limits on the north end of town, he said.
An autopsy is expected to begin any minute at the TBI crime lab in Nashville, and Johnson said authorities hope to learn more with results from the examination.
Authorities are seeking a black 1994 Chevrolet pickup truck bearing the license plate number 312-TYR, officials said.
Anyone with any information about the truck or the homicide should call the Marion County Sheriff's Department at 423-942-5667.
For more details, see tomorrow's Times Free Press.