LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - The body of a University of Kentucky chef who disappeared last month from his Lexington home was found in four feet of water in the Kentucky River, the coroner said.
Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said at a news conference Saturday that Alex Johnson’s body was in a 55-gallon blue barrel near the shore, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader (https://bit.ly/1f1REh3 ). The coroner’s office was called Friday morning about the barrel, and Ginn confirmed human remains were inside that afternoon.
Johnson had been missing since Dec. 20 when he ended a phone call with his girlfriend by saying he needed to answer the door at his home.
The discovery of the body comes several days after police arrested a man in Texas who was wanted on a murder charge in the case.
Police said Robert Markham Taylor was arrested Wednesday in Pharr, Texas. Extradition was being arranged with the Fayette County sheriff’s office.
Another man, 42-year-old Timothy Ballard, is charged with complicity to kidnapping and tampering with physical evidence in the case.
Police have said that Johnson, Ballard and Taylor knew each other, but they haven’t commented on a motive in the case.
Ginn said the autopsy was completed Saturday and that Johnson’s cause of death was blunt-force trauma.
“We believe he’s been in the barrel at least a month,” Ginn said. “He was fully clothed and had some money on him.”
Ginn didn’t say how much money there was.
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