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By New Sentinel Staff

In February, a missing man from Knox County turned up dead in Blount County — and authorities are asking the public to help them figure out how he got there.

The body of Jason "Antioch" Edward Duggin, 36, of Meadowbrook Circle in Powell, was found Feb. 5 inside a silver 1992 Honda Accord at the lake access ramp on Co-Op Road and Old Knoxville Highway in Rockford. Duggin had been reported missing to the Knox County Sheriff's Department earlier that week.

An autopsy found Duggin's death was consistent with homicide, a Blount County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said.

But a forensic exam of his cellphone usage found the phone never hit a tower in Blount County, and investigators have been unable to tie Duggin to any location or activity in Blount County prior to his death, police said, although witnesses last placed him in the area of the Montgomery Village Apartments housing project in South Knoxville, an area investigators said he was "known to frequent," which is less than 10 miles from where his body was found.

Duggin had been charged in 2014 with possession of a Schedule I controlled substance after an officer found black tar heroin packaged for resale, along with money and four cellphones, in a car he was driving on Maryville Pike outside Montgomery Village.

In 2013, he was convicted of kidnapping an ex-girlfriend by holding her in his car for about two hours.

Anyone who has information about Duggin's death can call the Blount County Sheriff's Office Investigations Unit, 865-273-5200, during business hours, leave a message on the Sheriff's Office 24-hour anonymous crime hotline, 865-273-5200, or use the Text-a-Tip link at www.bcso.com.