The body of a 49-year-old Xenia man was found in the South Glen on Sunday afternoon about 100 yards from the covered bridge, said John Prough, chief deputy with the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.

Preliminary results show that David Kirk Williamson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to investigator Bill McCarthy of the Greene County Coroner’s office.

Sheriff deputies began investigating when a Ford Bronco was found parked on Grinnell Road near the covered bridge on Thursday evening, May 29, Prough said. The truck’s tags led deputies to a Xenia address, where Williamson’s ex-girlfriend said she hadn’t heard from him in a week or two, Prough said.

Four search parties involving 16 people from Miami Township Fire-Rescue, the Sheriff’s Department and John Bryan State Park set out around 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon and found Williamson’s body within 45 minutes. According to McCarthy, he was lying on the ground with a rifle on his body. A time of death has not yet been determined, McCarthy said.

Eric Clark, the owner of the Springs Motel, said that Williamson had checked into the motel a week before his death and stayed for four days.

The man Clark believed was Williamson appeared to be “depressed” and “angry” and complained of very serious migraines, he said.

McCarthy said that Williamson was a former employee of the City of Lebanon whose family resides in Springfield. Though toxicology results were still pending as of Tuesday evening, McCarthy believes the death will remain classified as a suicide, he said.

This is the third body found in the Glen or John Bryan State Park within the year. All the deaths were suicides, and Prough said it is not uncommon for someone wanting to commit suicide to choose a remote and secluded area such as the Glen and John Bryan Park.

“There is no reason to believe the area is unsafe,” he said.

—Lauren Heaton