Fort Oglethorpe authorities are investigating the city’s first homicide in more than two years, officials said.

According to Fort Oglethorpe Police Chief Steve Blevins, the body of 51-year-old Kenneth Miller was discovered by the man’s girlfriend about 3 p.m. Tuesday inside his home at 13 Walker Avenue off Van Cleve Street.

Blevins said an initial autopsy conducted Wednesday at the state crime lab in Decatur, Ga. revealed that Miller died from several blows to the skull and facial area from an unknown object. Crime lab workers were unable to determine what type of weapon was used in the killing, Blevins said.

“Something long enough to hold in your hand was all they could give us right now,” he said. “There were multiple blows which may have concealed the type of implement used.”

The police chief said Miller lived alone and there were no signs of forced entry, but the victim did appear to have some defensive wounds. He said he is unsure if the perpetrator also sustained injuries during the attack.

Blevins declined to estimate the time of death until the autopsy report is complete, but said the victim appeared to be deceased for “some time.”

Blevins said detectives currently have no leads in the case.

“We’re starting to track down friends and family to talk to and try to piece together what may have happened over there,” he said. “Right now it’s pretty much a blank page to us.”

The last murder in the city occurred in July 2001, when Mark Wayne Graham shot and killed his wife, Jovita, during a domestic dispute, Blevins said.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Fort Oglethorpe Detective David Eubanks at (706) 866-2512 or Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent James Harris at (706) 624-1424.

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