JOHNSTON CITY, Ill. - Authorities in Williamson County have confirmed this afternoon that a body has been found at a local campsite in the Johnston City area.
The body was found this morning (Saturday, January 19) at a location not specified by authorities, but in the Arrowhead Lake campground area, located at 1600 Peterson Avenue.
This happens to be where a man from Murphysboro, Shawn P. Murphy, 42, went missing back on December 12, 2018. Circumstances of Murphy's disappearance were unusual: He had been there with another individual, their camper door was found open, the place was disheveled and Murphy's cell phone was present. There's not been a lot said about the man who was with Murphy at the time of Murphy's disappearance, but authorities have been actively searching for Murphy since that time.
On the Facebook page dedicated to locating Murphy, this message was posted this afternoon:
"We are aware of developments at the lake this morning. Until law enforcement contacts all the involved parties, we ask that everyone refrain from contacting family & posting details about this. Thank you."
No identification/gender of the body has been made, and none of the Williamson County/Johnston City authorities, to our knowledge, have even opined that it's Murphy. There are an unusual number of missing persons from Illinois, such as Joel Moore and Beth Bentley (both of whom went missing in 2010), so it could be any one of them. Authorities are not stating the level of decomposition of the body found, however, but have stated that there will be an autopsy conducted soon, which is a difficult thing to do on skeletal remains, so it's likely that there's some tissue still intact enough to autopsy. We'll keep an eye on it and keep you posted; you keep checking back.