A man is in custody after the body of a Gwinnett County woman was discovered Tuesday morning in the crawl space of a Barrow County home, authorities said.
Kimbala Mason, 46, was reported missing by her fiancé Sunday after going to work as a Lyft driver and never coming back, according to a Gwinnett County police report. Her fiancé told officers he had not seen Mason since midnight. He called her cellphone about 3 a.m. and received a text saying she had passengers in her Chevrolet SUV.
The woman’s body was found two days later when Barrow deputies arrived at a home along Tanners Bridge Road near Bethlehem after receiving information related to the missing persons case, Barrow County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Maj. Ryan Sears said in a news release.
“Upon further investigation at the scene, investigators determined there was evidence of a crime and obtained a search warrant for the residence,” he said.
During that search, authorities found Mason’s body buried in the crawl space underneath the house. It wasn’t immediately clear how she died or if foul play is suspected. Mason’s fiancé said she had a .380 caliber gun in her SUV when she went missing.
Deputies arrested Adam Heard in connection with the grisly discovery. He was charged with concealing the death of another, tampering with evidence, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, two counts of theft by taking and violating his probation, Sears said. Additional charges are possible pending the results of Mason’s autopsy, investigators said.
Authorities have not said if Heard and Mason knew each other. The case is being investigated by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, Gwinnett police and the GBI.
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