FROSTBURG, Md. (AP) — A young man whose mysterious death in the western Maryland woods is being investigated by homicide detectives was naked when searchers spotted his body on a remote logging road, according to emergency services recordings obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
A female companion who had walked out of the woods with hypothermia and broken into a home to call 911 told emergency workers where to find the body, according to the recordings. She told emergency workers that Alexander Stevens, 24, of Frostburg, had fallen off a cliff and was naked, the recordings show.
In one of the transmissions released by Allegany County officials, a Maryland State Police helicopter crew member says he’s “got a visual on a subject, unclothed.”
The engineering student’s body was found at about 9:20 a.m. Wednesday morning near the Savage River State Forest, about 140 miles west of Baltimore. The 20-year-old woman told emergency workers that she and Stevens had made a nighttime visit to High Rock, a rocky outcropping with scenic views accessible by a logging road and hiking trail.
State police spokesman Greg Shipley said autopsy results are pending. He wouldn’t comment on why Stevens was unclothed or the nature of his wounds, which Shipley has described only as “trauma.”
He declined to describe the body’s location in relation to High Rock or any other cliff.
Shipley said Stevens’ death was an isolated incident, and there was no danger to the public.
The recordings also show that Stevens’ father, Jay Stevens, called 911 around 1 a.m. Wednesday to say that Alexander and his girlfriend were lost in the High Rock area. That call prompted the 8 1/2-hour search.
Jay Stevens declined to discuss his son’s death Friday.
Acquaintances including Stevens’ high-school cross-country coach Norm Derosa and Eagle Scout mentor Jerry Zembower described him as an intelligent, upbeat, well-organized young man who loved the outdoors.
Stevens had recently attended Frostburg State University.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
