The recovery comes after an over two-month long investigation into the disappearance of Raney, who is mentally handicapped, from his family’s home in the community. Raney is originally from Middlesboro.
Lead investigating officer Lieutenant John Collins said on Thursday that after Raney was reported missing on February 22, the case offered no substantive leads.
“(It) went cold real fast,” said Collins.
Raney was found on Wednesday by a man hunting turkey in the woods several miles from Raney’s Cedar Grove home.
The Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department reported that the body had decomposed. It was sent to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for an autopsy that was scheduled to be performed on Thursday. Collins said Raney appeared to have died from natural causes.
“It’s a sad situation,” said Collins. “I hoped we would have found him alive. I still had hopes somebody had picked him up.”
The recovery of Raney’s body has taken a toll on his sister and her family, whom he lived with in Cedar Grove.
“I was devastated,” said Jodi Bell, Raney’s sister. “It’s just a shocker.”
Bell said the family was still holding out hopes Raney was alive.
After Raney disappeared, Bell said that he had gone for a walk to pick up cans.
Raney was found with a coat rolled up under his head, “like he was resting,” said Bell. Authorities also found Raney’s wallet and confirmed his identity, she said.
“It’s hit us hard, cause he lived here with us,” said Bell. “We took care of him.”
She said she couldn’t believe that search parties could have overlooked Raney when they searched that area.
“It’s like they didn’t do like they said,” said Bell.
Collins said that the search teams had covered that area in the woods extensively, which he said was remote and roughly four miles from Raney’s home. He said around 300-400 people on the ground had searched the area, along with dogs smelling for Raney’s scent. Collins had also flown over the area and taken pictures.
The turkey hunter had just shot a turkey and was tracking to its location when he came upon Raney, who was laying on a “very steep” location, according to Collins.
He said if the hunter hadn’t walked right up on Raney, the man would likely still be missing.
Claiborne County Rescue Squad and EMS, Claiborne County Sheriff David Ray, Captain David Honeycutt, Collins, as well as other officers were on scene at the recovery.
Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.
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