An East Lincoln man was found dead of unknown causes in a fieldon Bogue Chitto Road Sunday night, officials said.

Lincoln County Coroner Clay McMorris said Mike Delaughter, 59,of East Lincoln Road, had been cutting hay in a field at 1643 BogueChitto Road at some point during the weekend when he died. He wasfound Sunday around 7:30 p.m. by the field’s owner.

“All we know now is that he’d been cutting hay and they foundhim dead in the field,” McMorris said. “At this point the mannerand cause of death are pending.”

Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said the landowner foundDelaughter in the field when he’d gone to check on how much hay hadbeen cut. Before an autopsy can be done, he said it’s hard to tellif foul play could have been involved.

“He’d been cutting hay but he wasn’t on the tractor, it lookedlike he had parked the tractor and gotten off of it,” Rushing said.”There’s enough reason there for us to wait until the autopsyresults come in.”

Officials said there was no relation between the landowner andDelaughter, who cut hay for a living. It is not clear how longDelaughter may have been in the field before he was found, but itcould have been as early as Saturday morning, officials said.

The body is set for autopsy Monday at the Mississippi StateCrime Lab, McMorris said. The autopsy should provide theinformation needed to determine whether or not Delaughter died ofnatural causes.

Rushing said there is a probe into the situation until autopsyresults indicate the cause of death.

“Since it was an unattended death, we’ll treat it s a deathinvestigation,” Rushing said.

McMorris said Delaughter’s funeral arrangements areincomplete.