Police are investigating the deaths of two men whose bodies were found yesterday morning near Arbutus Middle School in southern Baltimore County.
A family driving on Shelbourne Road on the way to church noticed one of the bodies lying about 30 feet off the road and called police at 8:25 a.m., a Baltimore County police spokesman said.
When officers arrived, they discovered a second body, face down, about 20 feet away. The bodies were near a small stream that cuts through a wooded area between the middle school and a baseball field.
Police were investigating the deaths as homicides, but spokesman Bill Toohey could not say how the men died. The names of the men were not divulged.
Police said they had not found any witnesses, and Toohey asked that anyone who had seen anything unusual in the area call the department at 410-307-2020.
"This is not exactly a busy, bustling area," Toohey said.
The bodies were found just northeast of the school at 5525 Shelbourne Road, on the south side of the two-lane street. The area is surrounded by athletic fields for the middle school and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Several nearby residents said the neighborhood was generally quiet. Rick J. Smith, 51, whose daughter attends the middle school, said basketball leagues used the school's gym Saturday night. The school reopened Tuesday after winter recess.
"You get a lot of kids" along the street, Smith said. "It's a regular route of traffic, but late at night there wouldn't be too many people."
john.fritze@baltsun.com
