He is a mystery, one Ironton authorities are eager to unravel.

In the early morning hours of May 3, police and EMS personnel were called to a parking lot behind the Marlow Grill on Third Street in regards to a very ill man. By the time they had arrived, the elderly man was dead.

The people he was with said they thought his name was Paul Wellman. But no one knew for sure where he came from or how to contact family.

And considering the

little information they were given to begin with, police are having a hard time locating anyone who might claim Wellman’s body.

“We have done an exhaustive search and can’t find any next of kin in this area,” Ironton police Capt. Chris Bowman said.

Authorities believe he came to this area late last year and lived for a short time in South Point and in an apartment over the old Casey’s bar. He was living at the Lyle Motel at the time of his death. Much of his life before that is blank.

“We have information to believe he may have been from Roswell, N.M.,” Bowman said.

Before they got the Roswell lead, Bowman said authorities called two Paul Wellmans in Kentucky and one in West Virginia, hoping someone in those families was related to the dead man. All of those Paul Wellmans were alive and well and not looking for any missing relatives.

Wellman is described as 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds. He has brown and grey hair and blue eyes. He had a tattoo of a devil with a pitchfork on his right arm.

Police do not suspect foul play in his death.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Ironton police detective’s bureau at (740) 532-5606.