Ernest Appiah, 29-year-old Worcester man, has been identified as the deceased person discovered in the woods off of Asnebumskit Road in Paxton on Saturday, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr. said in a statement.
Authorities said they’ll be investigating Appiah’s death as a homicide.
The Worcester man’s body was discovered just before 7 a.m. on March 5 after a resident spotted the body about 25 feet into the wooded Paxton area off the road and notified police.
The incident was previously considered an “unattended death,” the Telegram & Gazette reported, until new evidence from an autopsy led the medical examiner to rule the case a homicide, according to a statement by the Worcester District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities searched the area for two days using shovels and metal detectors to comb through the snow, the Telegram & Gazette reported.