The TBI’s preliminary autopsy report says that Detective Ricky Seals did not die from any physical injury.

The Medical Examiner will not be able to determine a more specific cause of death until final toxicology results are available. No specific cause of death has been released.

TBI Agents continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.

Deputy Seals was found dead beside his vehicle on a county road.

“It’s important to know we’re classifying this and qualifying this as a death investigation at this point,” said TBI PIO Josh DeVine, “Until evidence surfaces that it might be something else.”

Family members and close friends are holding onto hope that the complete autopsy will give more answers into how Det. Seals died.
Seals has been in law enforcement for more than 30 years, working with the Bledsoe County Sheriff’s Office and Pikeville Police Department.

People in the County Courthouse say no one else did the same kind of investigative work as Ricky Seals. For 18 years he was the lead investigator in child abuse and juvenile cases, and some wonder how the District Attorney will prosecute those cases now that he’s gone.

Seals earned the respect of area sheriffs past and present. The Sequatchie County Sheriff was one of the first on scene Tuesday morning, to help out in any way needed and to pay respects to a good friend.

“Those folks are our family because we’re together so many hours a day, so many days a week, sometimes for days on end,” Sheriff Ronnie Hitchcock said.