Police say passing driver spotted body in woods off I-77 in Huntersville

This browser does not support the video element.

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C — Police in Huntersville are trying to identify a person found dead along the side of Interstate 77 Sunday night, near the Exit 23 ramp.

The ramp was closed for hours while detectives collected evidence.

Officers told Channel 9 that a driver passing by around 6:30 p.m. spotted a body in the wooded area off Gilead Road as they were exiting.

"It was right alongside the road and the motorist passing by saw it and called police," Huntersville Police Chief Cleveland Spruill said.

The "Follow the Lead" news app feature allows users to opt-in to follow future coverage of specific news events that they’re interested in.

This new feature allows you to receive push notifications whenever there are new developments in ongoing stories, breaking news, and stories that are of interest to you. 

Stories that are followable have tappable tags associated with them, including CMS. To follow the latest on CMS, click the blue tag indicated with a "+" followed by the name.

Not much information has been released, and the medical examiner was also called to the scene. Officers said they don't have many answers yet but told Channel 9 the death could be a homicide.

The chief said a case like this is quite unusual. Since 2012, there have been only four homicides in Huntersville.

Spruill said investigators are trying to figure out if there is a killer behind this mysterious case.

"We will be doing a canvas of the neighborhood, looking for anybody who might have witnessed or seen anything," he said. "Anytime that we find something like this we want to be very careful, slow and methodical in what we're doing."

The ramp was reopened before midnight, and investigators will return to the scene once the sun rises to make sure they didn't miss anything.

Check back with wsoctv.com for updates on this story.

Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com: