Sheriff Jim Sanderson, however, scoffed at the coroner's report and said that the man died when he fell under the wheels of a passing freight train. The coroner examined the body a second time and found further evidence of murder. The Little River County coroner explained, "We found a deep cut over the man's temple inches wide and one and one-half inches long, which is sufficiently deep to cause death. We also found cuts about the man's hands and wrists, which would indicate that the man grappled with another person who had a knife. All of these wounds were clean and indicated that the cuts were made with a sharp instrument. The wounds which we believed the man received when his body was struck by the train were full of dirt and were jagged."