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Sussex County Sheriff’s Office investigating after hunter finds body in trash bag in woods

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SUSSEX COUNTY, Va. - Detectives are investigating after a hunter discovered a body in a trash bag in a wooded area off Route 35.

The Sussex County Sheriff's Office says the hunter discovered the body on January 12 around 10:45 a.m. on Jerusalem Plank Road.

Officials have identified the victim as 36-year-old Kenneth Moore of Franklin.

"I loved my son very much and I want him to be at peace," Patti Bass exclusively told News 3's Aleah Hordges.

Bass laid her only son to rest on January 22.

She said Kenneth Moore was on route 35 thumbing for a ride to Richmond on January 12 and was robbed.

"He had a backpack, his notebook, computer and he had a nice phone, wallet, credit cards," Bass mentioned.

The hunter was tracking a dog by transmitter and noticed a trash bag in a ditch full of water near a hunting path leading to a wooded area.

When the hunter opened the bag, he saw a body. The body was wrapped in trash bags and submerged in water in the ditch.

Investigators say Moore had trauma to his head and neck, causing him to bleed out.

"Why they had to kill him I don't know. Why did they have to kill him like that I don't know," cried Bass.

Kenneth Moore was an artist and graduate student at Mary Washington University.

Bass said she wants justice for her son's gruesome death, despite the happy memories in family photos and his artwork still remain in her house.

There was no missing alert for Kenneth Moore, authorities said.

The case is being investigated as a homicide.