Local & State Headlines

Missing student's body found in Texas

• Wesley Benford, 22, graduated from deerfield Windsor School, where he was a member of the football team.

J.D. Sumner

NEWTON, TEXAS — An Auburn University student from Albany, who had been reported missing for several weeks, has been found dead just off a rural east Texas highway, authorities said.

The body of 22-year-old Wesley Reynolds Benford of Auburn, Ala., was found in his truck parked along a rural stretch of State Route 87 earlier this week by sheriff’s deputies, Newton County Sheriff Joe Walker said.

Benford had been missing since March 24, when he last called his parents after being stopped in Leesville, La., near the Texas-Louisiana state line, Walker said.

Walker said Thursday medical examiners were unable able to determine the exact cause of death but that investigators had recovered a suicide note in the center console of Benford’s truck.

“I would do anything to have been able to talk to that boy before he did this and try and just talk to him about things,” Walker said. “This is just a tragedy.”

Walker said he believes Benford had been dead since March 25, the day after he last spoke to his parents. Walker said that after speaking with the parents and reading the note, he believes Benford was distraught about problems at college.

“I have some receipts from Huntsville, where he stopped in and bought some charcoal and lighter fluid, so we know he was alive when he did that, but after that, the activity stops,” Walker said. “He was obviously upset about his life and said in the note he just wanted to be left alone.”

Walker said a grill loaded with charcoal was found in the rear seat of the truck.

Benford graduated from Deerfield Windsor School, where he was a member of the school’s football team.

In an interview with the Leesville Daily Leader, Benford’s father Ben said that his son had left Auburn for spring break in Panama City, Fla., when he decided to go to Biloxi, Miss., and then on to Louisiana and Texas.

The Benford family previously declined to discuss the matter with The Albany Herald when their son was reported missing.

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