MANCHESTER, Jamaica — A decomposed body believed to be that of a man, said to have been mentally challenged, was found in bushes in George Reid, Manchester on Monday.

Relatives believe the body is that of Marlon Corinthian, 46, a resident of George Reid who was reportedly last seen on Saturday, September 20. A missing person’s report was also made on Sunday, a week later as family members and friends got worried about the man’s whereabouts.

Preliminary reports are that midafternoon on Monday, residents in George Reid searched an overgrown area after smelling a foul odour.

A woman said she asked a man from the community to use a machete to debush the area.

“After he chopped go down, he found a [part] of a foot in the air… so we called the police,” she told journalists.

The woman who identified herself as a friend of Corinthian said she last saw him nine days ago.

“I was the person who reported him missing… [he was found] in a ditch… he had a mental problem. He would normally go around and look like bush to boil tea, so my thing is I think he went there searching for bush and went over into the ditch and got tangled and didn’t get any help,” she said.

“Everybody love Marlon around here. I don’t think anybody would hurt him,” she added.

A relative of Corinthian disclosed that he was a mental health patient.

“I didn’t see him. I thought he was at the hospital and I went there and didn’t see him… I did [put] some food at the window for him, so he could take it up. When I came back I still saw the food there, so I knew something was wrong. I started alerting people and checked the hospital again,” said the relative in reference to a house where Corinthian lived and the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

Firefighters assisted the police and undertakers to remove the body from the area. Residents and onlookers who gathered nearby wore masks and used pieces of fabric to cover their noses due to the odour that emanated when the body was removed from the overgrown area.

— Kasey Williams

(Video: Kasey Williams)