In the late summer of 2017, the discovery of a badly decomposed body along a tree line near Spanish Town Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, would begin a mystery that would take months to unravel. On August 21st, law enforcement was alerted to the presence of human remains at the corner of Spanish Town Road and 14th Street, on the eastern side of Interstate 110.
The condition of the body made immediate identification impossible, leaving investigators with the difficult task of determining who the deceased was and what had happened.
For two months, the identity of the man remained unknown. Finally, on October 20, 2017, the Baton Rouge Police Department announced that they had identified the victim as 57-year-old Kermit Hamilton of Earl Gros Avenue. His home address in the Tigerland area was miles away from where his body was discovered, adding another layer of questions to his final moments. An autopsy revealed that Hamilton had sustained multiple broken bones and blunt force trauma.
Investigators concluded that the injuries sustained by Kermit Hamilton were consistent with being struck by a vehicle. While the manner of his death was determined to be a probable hit-and-run, details regarding any potential vehicle or person of interest were not publicly released. The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the 57-year-old man continued, though no immediate arrests were made in connection with the incident. The case left the community with unanswered questions about how Kermit Hamilton came to be in that location and the events that led to his untimely death.
