Missing since Friday; body found in lagoon

The badly decomposed body of a male person was pulled from the river in the village of Burrell Boom this morning. According to reports, just after nine Police were called to the scene about two miles due north of Burrell Boom in an area known as Henderson Bank by a person who saw the body floating in the river. The Police and Coast Guard responded, and when the body was retrieved observers say an arm and a leg were missing. The body was transported to a deserted area where a post-mortem examination confirmed that the death was in fact a homicide, as the person had reportedly been stabbed more than twenty times. This evening the body was identified as that of thirty-seven year old Ellis Dawson, a resident of Sand Hill, who had been missing since Friday. Because of the advanced state of decomposition, Dawson was buried immediately after the examination.