Male Body Found in Ditch

Delaware state troopers identified the body of a 21-year-old male found in a ditch last Wednesday as Rodney Lee Faulkner, of Newark. He was identified 11 days after he first disappeared Rick Faulkner, of Townsend, Del., the uncle of the victim, said.

Rodney Faulkner left his Newark home Feb. 2 between 9 and 9:30 p.m. on foot to get Chinese food for him and his fiancé and never returned, Rick Faulkner said. He was the father of five-month-old twin girls, and family members were certain something happened to him when he didn’t return because they knew he would never abandon his daughters, Rick Faulkner said.

Rick Faulkner said he believes his nephew was hit by a car, but the autopsy has not yet been released so the cause of death is unconfirmed.

“Somebody had to see him,” Faulkner said. “He laid in that ditch for 11 days.”

Two pedestrians spotted Rodney Faulkner’s body in a ditch on the Christina Bypass west of Old Baltimore Pike in Christiana, Del. around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to a press release from the Delaware State Police, who responded to the scene.

Police spokesman Cpl. John Day said the police are in the investigation’s preliminary stages and, as previously mentioned, still do not know the cause of death.

They found no sign of foul play when the body was discovered. The body has been turned over to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.

“This case is under investigation and we are not releasing any more information,” Day said.

Rick Faulkner said if anyone has any further information about this case to contact the police.

“It’s a shame his two beautiful girls will never know their father,” Rick Faulkner said. “He was only 21, He was at the beginning of his life.”

Anyone with additional information on the incident should contact the police by calling the Major Crimes Unit at Troop 2 at (302) 834-2630 or Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333.