Daily Citizen

November, 2003

The Whitfield County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have solved a two-year old mystery.

A body found burned beyond recognition in 2001 just off I-75 at Connector 3 has been identified as Tommy L. Beavers Jr. of Northlake, Ill. Beavers was 21 at the time of his death.

The GBI Crime Lab made the identification based on dental records. The mystery began on May 5, 2001, when the Whitfield County Fire Department responded to a brush fire near Connector 3. Firefighters discovered the body of a man that was severely burned.

The sheriff's office found that a man matching the individual's description had been at a nearby Pilot gas station shortly before the fire and had purchased a can and gasoline. The man appeared to be alone and without a vehicle.

A GBI artist did a sketch of the man based on footage obtained by the store's security video camera and information from the autopsy.

That sketch and information were posted on the sheriff's office Web site, as well as the Web site of the Doe Network (www.doenetwork.org), a volunteer, nonprofit organization devoted to missing persons and unsolved deaths.

Meanwhile, the family of Tommy Beavers Jr. had reported him missing after he failed to return from a concert in Atlanta. The last time they saw Beavers was May 3, 2001.

The family contacted the sheriff's office last week after seeing the sketch on the Doe Network Web site. They reported that the sketch resembled Tommy Beavers Jr.

The crime lab obtained Beavers' dental records and made the identification.

The sheriff's office said there was no known connection between Beavers and Dalton.