Updated: 11/20/2009 6:27:12 PM
An attempt to serve a warrant on an Anderson County man, previously arrested on explosives charges, resulted in marshals finding a decomposing body.
Brad Stephen Smith, 56, was previously arrested on charges related to prohibited weapons, possession of unlawful explosive components, and unlawful carry of a weapon with intent to go armed.
U.S. Marshals were trying to serve a warrant on Smith at his Lone Mountain Road home in Andersonville, around 2 p.m. Friday, when they discovered a badly decomposed body.
Deputy Marshal Warren Mayes said the property looked abandoned and that the windows were left open. Marshals were able to see the body, lying on a bed, through a window.
Marshals secured the premises and called the sheriff's office. The bomb squad was sent out due to a previous incident involving explosives and booby traps on the property.
The marshals were serving a violation of probation warrant for Smith--after his release in late June or early July, he was required to have contact with a probation officer and apparently never did.
It is not known at this point whether that body is Smith or another person. Dental records will be used to make a positive identification. There's no obvious cause of death at this point.
The TBI has an agent on the scene, along with a bomb squad, as a precaution.
Smith was arrested on the weapons charges in 2006 when investigators responded to a domestic incident at his Andersonville home and found several explosives, bomb parts, instruction manuals on bomb-making, live grenades, and signs of a recently harvested marijuana crop.
