Police confirm body was recovered from woods off TM Wentworth Road

State Dept. of Safety personnel load a truck with shovels and other equipment used during their mission on TM Wentworth Road Thursday. (Rochester Voice photos)

WEST LEBANON, Maine - Maine State Police told The Rochester Voice today a body was recovered from woods off TM Wentworth Road on Thursday where they spent much of the day digging with shovels and other tools.

The investigations was mostly centered to an area of woods about 100 yards from the road in the area of 340 TM Wentworth Road.

About five marked and unmarked cars were joined in the afternoon by a Major Crimes Unit truck. By late afternoon only the truck and two unmarked police vehicles were still there when three state police personnel trekked out of the woods carrying two shovels, what appeared to be a camera tripod for taking pictures and other tools.

Maine Dept. of Safety personnel emerge from woods with their gear Thursday afternoon.

After packing their gear into the truck they left around 5 p.m. They hadn't returned as of 10 a.m. today.

A Maine State trooper assured motorist passing by there was nothing to be alarmed about.

"You're safe," she said.

A woman that lives in the area said they had taken down the police caution tape that had been strung between two trees.

The location where they were set up is about a half mile from where a West Lebanon man is thought to have left his pickup truck car after a domestic violence incident on April 26, 2017.

Police said they found a lot of blood in the truck when they found it, but that Dale Godfrey, 52, who was known to carry box cutters in his truck, was never found despite a large search effort in nearby woods. In September 2017 a Maine Dept. of Safety dive team scoured the depths of the south end of Milton Three Ponds near the Garage Way dam.

Police have theorized all along that Godfrey may have succumbed to self-inflicted wounds and that his body may be either in the woods near where his truck was found or somewhere in Milton Three Ponds.

Police on Thursday took the remains to the state Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause of death and identify the body.

It is not yet clear when that information will be released, said Katy England, Maine State Police Media Coordinator.