The quiet morning routine for a crew of gas company employees took a dark turn on Thursday when they stumbled upon a body in a remote patch of Putnam County. What was supposed to be a standard maintenance check at a gas well ended with a call to emergency dispatchers and a yellow-tape perimeter deep within the Amherst-Plymouth Wildlife Management Area. The man found lying in the brush has since been identified as 61-year-old Alfred Hedrick, a resident of the small nearby town of Bancroft.
The discovery happened off Route 62 near an area known as Plymouth Hollow. It is a rugged, wooded stretch of land that is usually off-limits to most people. State troopers pointed out that the specific roadway where Hedrick’s body was found is typically gated and closed to private vehicles. How or why Hedrick ended up in such a restricted, rural spot remains the central question for the West Virginia State Police as they piece together his final hours.
While the location and circumstances initially raised eyebrows, Putnam County Sheriff Bobby Eggleton noted that investigators do not currently see immediate signs of foul play. However, the state police are still treating the death as suspicious until the medical examiner can provide more definitive answers. For now, details on the cause of death or exactly how long Hedrick had been out there are being kept close to the vest by officials.
This isn’t the first time Hedrick’s name has appeared in local records, though his past paints a much more turbulent picture. Back in 2020, he faced serious legal trouble following a heartbreaking call to police from a child. At the time, a 9-year-old boy told officers his parents had ordered him to leave the house after a bike ride. When the boy asked why, Hedrick allegedly struck him across the face.
Responding officers at the time noted visible bruising on the child’s forehead and cheek. As they were conducting the interview, Hedrick reportedly rode up to the scene on a bicycle, smelling of alcohol and becoming combative with the police. That incident led to charges of child abuse and domestic battery, landing him in the Western Regional Jail on a $15,000 bond.
Whether that troubled history has any connection to his lonely end in the woods is still unclear. State police haven’t named any suspects or persons of interest, and they haven’t said if Hedrick was even reported missing before the gas crew found him. The contrast between his past legal battles and the quiet, restricted area where he was discovered has left the community with more questions than answers.
For now, the Amherst-Plymouth Wildlife Management Area remains a focal point of the investigation. It is a massive tract of land managed by the state, filled with steep hills and thick timber—the kind of place where someone could go unnoticed for a long time. As the investigation continues, authorities are asking anyone with information about Hedrick’s recent whereabouts to come forward while they wait for the final autopsy results to clear up the mystery.
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