An ATV accident turned to tragedy last week when a Jones County man who had been missing several hours was found deceased.
Daniel Wiggins, 45, was pronounced deceased at the scene of the accident at 3:30 p.m. April 21 by Jones County Deputy Coroner Stacy Gardner. The cause of death was given as blunt force trauma resulting from the accident.
A report of the incident by Jones County Deputy Corp. Jeff Sullivan stated that Deputy Nolan Sullivan was dispatched to a Chapman Road address at 1 p.m. April 21 in reference to a missing person. The complainant told Sullivan that Wiggins left his home around 11 p.m. the previous evening and had not returned.
Corp. Sullivan notified dispatch that he would join the deputy in the attempt to locate Wiggins. The corporal said he asked dispatch to ping Wiggins’ phone, which showed his location between Princess Ann Drive and R.L. Wheeler Road on Gray Highway.
Jeff Sullivan said he and Nolan Sullivan entered the woods to search, and on-call investigator Gerry Nelson arrived to assist in the search. The officers had no luck finding Wiggins.
Sullivan said they spoke to owner of the first home on Princess Ann Drive, who turned out to be a friend of the missing man. She said she received a text from Wiggins after 9 p.m. the previous evening but had no further contact.
The corporal said he decided to walk back to his patrol vehicle parked on RL Wheeler Road and drive to the home of Wiggins’ brother to speak to him. He said he located the ATV that was flipped over on top of Wiggins during that walk.
Sullivan said the ATV was just up from Princess Ann Drive on the other side of the guard rail and the yellow RL Wheeler Road sign. He said the ATV had a cooler strapped to its back.
The officer said he called the coroner after confirming Wiggins was deceased.
