On Friday, April 20, 2018, around 8:52am, Kentucky State Police Post 10 Harlan received a call about a body being found off Hinkle Branch Road in the Hinkle Community of Knox County. Preliminary investigation indicates that around 8:50am, inmates with Bell County Forestry Service, along with guards, were attempting to clean up a dump site over an embankment when a body was discovered. Troopers arrived on the scene and discovered a male subject who had been murdered and place into the dump site. The body was identified as 32-year-old Michael Sowders of Barbourville. An autopsy performed by the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort determined the cause of death to be a gunshot wound. Detective Jake Wilson is continuing the investigation.