LAPEL — Police are seeking the public’s help in determining what led up to a man’s death along a county road northeast of Lapel today, Monday, July 9.

According to the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, central dispatch responded to a call at 10:28 a.m., on County Road 600 West just south of State Road 32, about a man “who was staggering on the roadway, covered in blood, needing medical attention.

“A passerby saw the man in distress and called 911 for assistance,” an email from the sheriff’s department on Monday afternoon stated. “When medical personnel from the Lapel Fire Department arrived on the scene, the man was unresponsive.”

Thirty-five-year-old Noah Thom was pronounced dead at Community Hospital in Anderson, the email said.

Law enforcement located a “box cutter type of blade” with blood on it under a nearby bridge.

The “most apparent wound” was a deep cut on Thom’s left arm, according to the sheriff’s department.

A cause of death was not provided.

“There was no indication that anyone else was at the scene before passers-by called 911,” the email stated.

The sheriff’s office is working with the Madison County Coroner’s Office to determine what transpired prior to Thom’s death.

People with information about this incident are asked to call investigators at 765-646-4036.