Police are trying to identify a body, believed to be that of a man, found Wednesday morning in woods behind a group of stores off Route 1 in Thomaston.

Thomaston Police Chief Kevin Haj said the body was decomposed and he could not immediately determine whether it was a man or woman. State police said later the body was believed to be a man.

Wednesday afternoon, state police said they had a lead on who the person was and was awaiting further work by the Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta to establish his identification and a cause of death.

The body is believed to have been in the woods for several months and is not believed to be anyone from Knox County.

The body was found by a workman in the area who had gone into the woods, the chief said. The location is up an embankment adjacent to a parking lot behind several stores, including a Dunkin’ Donuts. It was a short distance from the parking lot, near the Rockland city line.

Police were called about 9:30 a.m. and roped off the area with yellow tape. Maine State Police detectives were on the scene at noon.

Haj said he did not see any visible signs of trauma on the body, and there were no weapons near it.


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