Delia D'Ambra

The case started out as a mysterious missing persons investigation in New York, but things quickly changed when law enforcement all the way down in Georgia discovered a body.

From there, authorities began connecting dots between a couple that were decades younger than the dead man and a series of suspicious activities along a road trip into the Deep South.

This is Park Predators.

Around noon on December 12th, 2015, some hikers in Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park near Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, were on a trail enjoying their walk when they stumbled upon the body of a deceased man laying on the ground next to the path.

Right away, the visitors dialed 911 and got in touch with local authorities to report the gruesome discovery.

Even though the victim had been found inside the national park and the NPS was initially contacted, it was officers from the city of Fort Oglethorpe who responded to the scene to handle the investigation.

When those units arrived, they saw exactly what the hikers had reported, an older male laying on the trail with apparent head trauma.

One investigator described the man's injuries as a cut on the forehead and one near his lip.

Placed on top of the body was a walking cane, and not like a walking stick you'd have in the woods, but an actual cane that someone would use if they had mobility issues.

Not long after the discovery, the FBI, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Catoosa County Coroner's Office were looped in and responded.

Within a few hours of the body being found, the victim was transported to the GBI crime lab for an autopsy.

On his person, they discovered a flip phone that's number had recently been transferred to a newer smartphone device.

Unfortunately, though, the smartphone was not at the scene.

At the conclusion of the autopsy, pathologists determined the man had died from blunt force trauma to his head, and his manner of death was homicide.

The ME estimated that his approximate date of death was December 8th, meaning he'd been out in the national park for at least a few days before being found.

Meanwhile, back at the crime scene, forensic techs collected the cane as evidence, as well as a rock nearby that had what appeared to be blood on it.

They also took photos of several shoe impressions on the ground that had been made by two different size shoes.

One was larger than the other, and investigators suspected that they might have come from a man and a woman.

Interestingly, though, neither impression was similar in shape or tread to the shoes that had been found on the victim.

But it was a walking trail after all.