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She had no regular job. Her parents were deceased, and her boyfriend helped send her to jail. Did no one care that in death her body lay beside a busy highway for weeks?
The temperature in Florence on September 1, 2016, was 95 degrees at 2:00 p.m. It had been a brutally hot summer, and the advent of colloquial Autumn brought no relief. That Thursday morning, an Alabama Department of Transportation employee was operating a mower along the right-of-way on Helton Drive between Huntsville Road and Florence Boulevard. The area had not been mowed since May, and the worker was expecting to encounter trash along with the high grass, but he wasn't prepared for what he found 15 feet from the busy thoroughfare.
Lying deep within the tall vegetation was a body. Officers who quickly arrived on the scene found a badly decomposed body dressed in a shirt and pants. Due to the body's state of advanced decay and generic clothing, it was impossible to ascertain the sex of the deceased from simple observation. Authorities then sent the body to the state forensics laboratory in Huntsville for an autopsy.
Due to the condition of the body, an exact cause of death could not be determined, but the deceased was identified as 39 year-old Chrysty Lynn Copeland. The Florence woman had a minor arrest record, mainly involving domestic violence charges, and Florence police chief Ron Tyler reported that Copeland had left the Lauderdale County Detention Center on foot on August 4th. That Thursday was the last day that Chrysty was seen alive.
Oddly, Copeland's boyfriend reported her missing on the day her body was discovered. Did no one miss Copeland during the 28 days she had seemingly vanished?
Authorities speculated that Chrysty had left the detention center on a day the temperature reached 94 degrees. She traveled down Veterans Drive to Helton and then north, apparently attempting to reach her home in the Greenbriar area. Due to the condition of her body, autopsy results were inconclusive, but Chief Tyler reported that Copeland had numerous health issues.
Once the State released the body of Chrysty Lynn Copeland, her remains were cremated and her ashes given to a friend. There is no permanent memorial for Chrysty.
Sadly, in the eight years since Copeland's death, others have disappeared after leaving the LCDC, but have not been found in the same dramatic way. Perhaps the best way to honor Chrysty Copeland's memory would be to establish a transportation fund that would assist these individuals in making their way home safely?
