Portales man's body found in shallow grave near Odessa

ODESSA, Texas — A body found in a shallow grave in Ector County, Texas, in October has been identified as Fred Hardy McNeal, 26, of Portales.

Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis identified McNeal at a news conference Monday.

The Sheriff’s Department said in a news release McNeal was last seen by family in August and described him as “a transient known to hang out in West Odessa.”

Messages to family and friends were not immediately returned on Tuesday, but a spokesman for the Odessa funeral home handling services said McNeal lived in Portales.

His body was found in the early morning hours of Oct. 28 in a shallow grave in an oil field in far northwest Ector County, Griffis said.

There has been no cause of death confirmed, Griffis said, and officials have yet to get all of the results back from the autopsy.

Griffis said it’s unknown how long McNeal’s body had been buried.

“There’s not that many people that come up missing and then are found in shallow graves. It just don’t happen that often,” he said. “Normally if a body is found, they’re found out in the open, or maybe hidden, but not normally buried.”

Griffis said officials are looking at more than one suspect in the investigation.

ECSO is asking anyone with information related to the case call the ECSO at 432-335-3050.

The News Editor David Stevens contributed to this report.