Jackson man found dead in Georgia

A Jackson man was found dead July 14 in Carroll County, Ga., the apparent victim of a homicide.

Dylan Polen, 21, was found Wednesday near the community of Whitesburg, Ga., a town of fewer than 600 residents in Carroll County. He had been reported missing July 9.

According to John Bankhead of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Polen had been dead for some time and was identified only this week through some descriptive tattoos on what was left of his body and through DNA and dental records.

Polen left Jackson two years ago, according to relatives, to work in Los Angeles with a Philadelphia-based Christian mission program, Mission Year. He was stationed in September 2003, at New Life Covenant church in Atlanta. Leroy Barber, director of Mission Year in Atlanta, said Polen left the program in January.

According to the Carroll County Sheriff's Department, a county resident discovered Polen's body lying next to a gravel road near a tree-harvesting area. Officials say they don't know how the body got to that location.

Maj. Craig Dodson of the Carroll County Sheriff's Department said the case is currently under investigation.

Chuck Wanager of the Carroll County Times-Georgian contributed to this report.