Smithsonian to try to determine Amelia man’s cause of death

Forensic anthropologists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington will try to determine the cause of death of an Amelia County man.

The state medical examiner's office was unable to determine a cause or manner of death for Clent Chavers, who was buried in his backyard in Amelia in 1994, when he was 68. Authorities exhumed the remains in April.

Chavers was the second husband of Ulisa Mary Chavers, who has told authorities she buried him in their backyard after he died of natural causes.

Separately, Chavers is charged with concealing the body of a boyfriend, Reginal Cody Bowles. His body was found in March at the bottom of an unused well on his Louisa County property. His cause of death, too, is unknown.

-- Reed Williams