Body of missing Indianola man discovered Saturday

The more than month-long attempt to locate Indianola resident David James Markham has come to an end.

The body of the 63-year-old man was located by relatives at around 3:30 p.m., on Saturday in an abandoned structure near the corner of Mill Street and B.B. King Road.

Markham's brother, O.C. Markham along with their cousin, Billy Fairley made the discovery. Fairley said Markham's brother, who had been told that his brother was still missing, was visiting in the area this week and asked him help search for him.

"He asked me, 'Man, let's go see if we can find David," Fairley said.

He said although they had been told that the police had already searched the property where they found Markham, they decided to go and check it out for themselves.

"His brother just got on up in there (the building) and walked around and he saw a leg standing up."

Fairley explained that although Markham's body was lying on the floor, his leg was not horizontal to the floor. He said they were just about to leave when the brother spotted Markham's leg.

Markham, who was earlier described as being a homeless man that lived in abandoned buildings in the area where he was found, was reportedly last seen around midday on March 2 and has been the subject several searches with at least one involving a K-9 search team.

His aunt reported him missing on April 2 after not hearing from him for several weeks, which was apparently unusual.

A friend who had dropped Markham off near B.B. King Road and Second Street back in March said Markham was complaining of feeling sick and was coughing and complaining of being cold.