Human remains found in shallow grave during search warrant connected to missing Columbus woman
A quiet north Columbus subdivision was taped off nearly all of Wednesday as investigators and patrol officers worked a crime scene after a search warrant was issued in the missing case of 64-year-old Julie Marie Catron.
Catron went missing back in November of 2021 and was reported missing by family members. In a press release back in November, it was reported that Catron had either traveled to Destin or Crestview, Florida. Investigators began searching for clues which lead to the search warrant being issued.
Officials with Columbus Police Department responded to the location and took away multiple residents of the 2600 block number house to an unknown location.
Investigators began searching the house and the backyard for possible evidence. As officers began searching the crime went from just the house to the whole 579-foot street. Investigators began searching a location inside the backyard that was closed off by a freshly built fence after cadaver dogs alerted.
Crime scene investigators and patrol officers in HazMat suits began rotating positions on the street and a post hole digger, paper bags, and cameras were then pulled out from unmarked cruisers and that is when human remains, which belong to an unidentified female, were located. Muscogee County Deputy Coroner Charles Newton was summoned to the scene and then called a funeral home. “The decomposed body will be transported to the county morgue and then to the GBI in Decatur for positive identification and cause / manner of death,” Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said. Columbus Fire and EMS was then dispatched to the location to assist with the investigation for an unknown reason.
Neighbors on the street tell me a dog, that stays at a residence diagonally behind the house where the investigation took place, has been barked day and night for the past six months. When CNAW2NEWS.com crews left the scene – the dog was no longer barking.
Columbus investigators continues to investigate as a patrol officer sits and holds the crime scene. No other information has been confirmed as of our last check.
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