Investigations are underway after a body was found in a train car full of corn at the Tyson Plant near Fulton, Arkansas.
The Hempstead County Sherriff’s Office reported that around 4:20 a.m. Monday, Tyson workers were unloading the train car when someone noticed a human arm in the unloading chute near the train car.
According to railroad officials, the 100-car train left Missouri on Oct. 14 loaded with corn after leaving empty from Mexico. After arrival, deputies opened the grain car, finding a human body in the bottom of the empty car.
After unsuccessfully retrieving the body, sources say that deputies called the Red River Wrecker Service, which was able to access the top of the car with a cable.
The retrieved body was badly decomposed, and a coroner officially pronounced the adult male dead at the scene. Remains will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for identification and a final determination on the man’s cause of death.
It is unclear at this time whether the man was picked up in Mexico or farther along the route and whether he was alive or dead when he landed in the grain car.
The Hempstead County Coroner, Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division, and the Hempstead County Sheriff’s Office are still investigating the case.
Tyson Foods‘ $75 million mega-mill in Fulton was opened in July 2022. Designed to produce 13,000 tons of finished feed in a week, the mill can load over one hundred rail cars in 11 hours. The mill also plans to process 1.3 million birds by September 2024 with the new hatchery.
