Copiah County officials are still working to learn the identityof a man whose body was pulled from the Pearl River Monday justnorth of Highway 28 near Georgetown.

Copiah County Sheriff’s Department officials have said the body,which investigators are reasonably sure is that of a middle-agedblack man, could have flowed quite a distance down the river, as ittends to flow deep and wide.

Coroner Ellis Stuart said the autopsy conducted earlier thisweek offered no clue on who the man might be or where he might havecome from.

“At this point, we’re not able to release the cause of deathbecause we have not been able to identify the person yet,” Stuartsaid.

In addition, he said Saturday, dental records do not match anymissing persons that have been compared at this point. Therefore,DNA samples are being sent away for analysis.

“We’ve sent it to a DNA lab outside Reno, Nev., where we haveour DNA stuff done,” Stuart said. “We’d tried to get a dentalmatch, which is quicker, but couldn’t locate any dental records ormedical records that help us.”

There is one possible identity that officials still haven’truled out, but Stuart said they are waiting for the results on theDNA work.

“We do have a person of interest that when we get our DNA stuffback we’ll see if we can match it to that person,” he said. “It’llbe two to three weeks before we get that back.”

Stuart did not divulge the identity of the person of interest,but he did say he would release more information when it becomesavailable.

“If you watch ‘CSI’ or ‘Forensic Files,’ you’d think we’d haveit back before we get to back to the office, but it’s not like thatin real life,” he said.