CUMBERLAND COUNTY — Cumberland County authorities are resuming their search for clues in the brutal slaying of a Cumberland County man, whose body was found Thursday night.

William Chapman said he and a friend were out running rabbits when he saw a body about 25 feet away. At first, he and his friend Jerry Maynor thought he wasn't real.

Maynor initially thought the body was a scarecrow, he said.

A few minutes later, Cumberland County deputies surrounded the area, off Camden Road, closing off roads and standing guard. They say they're sure the man is 48-year-old Gary Shutz, who was reported missing on New Year's Eve.

Shutz' body found was clothed in a robe and underclothing, and his throat had been slashed. Authorities also said that a telephone cord was still wrapped around one wrist

According to investigators, Shutz's son told them his father was gone under unusual circumstances, leaving his glasses and shoes behind.

Then hours before the body was found, deputies recovered Shutz's car near N.C. 87, trunk and doors open, in a swamp. The car was about 10 miles from the body.

Sheriff "Moose" Butler declined to release many details about the case.

Shutz worked at Larry King Surveyors in Cumberland County.