Manner of death 'undetermined' for man found behind Genoa Dollar General

GENOA – The DeKalb County Coroner’s Office said the manner of death was undetermined for Randy W. Lawson, a 31-year-old transient man whose body was found behind Dollar General at 101 Kearney Drive.

Coroner Dennis Miller said his office believes Lawson had been dead for a couple of days before his body was found. Miller said it also was cold outside during that time.

“He had some drugs in his system and he died of exposure” as a secondary cause of death, Miller said.

Miller said some of those drugs that were found in Lawson’s system included methadone and cocaine.

The coroner’s comments come after police got a report at 10:51 a.m. March 2 of a body found behind bushes in a grassy area behind the building, near the property line between the store and an apartment complex to the west. Police had said they were not sure how long Lawson’s body had been there and were told an employee of the DeKalb County Coroner’s Office was at the scene.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office put out a release later that day identifying the body as that of Lawson, who had no permanent address.