Authorities hope to confirm the identity tonight of a man whose body was found in Flowers near Interstate 20 Sunday afternoon, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.

According to an identification card found on the man’s body, he was 68 years old, white and from another state, Pace said.

&#8220We have no way of knowing how he came to be there,” Pace said. &#8220The autopsy is scheduled for later this afternoon, and we hope to know from that the cause and manner of death.”

No vehicle was in the area, and Pace did not say whether any signs of trauma were evident on the body.

A pair of horseback riders discovered the body at 2:16 p.m. about a mile west of the Flowers exit on a gravel service road that runs parallel to I-20. He was on his back on the right side of the road, Warren County Coroner John Thomason said.

&#8220Right now, we don’t know much,” Thomason said. &#8220We are trying to get everything established in as far as verifying who he is and getting in touch with some next of kin.”

Pace said the Warren County Sheriff’s Department is working with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol on the case.

&#8220We called them because it was on a state right-of-way,” he said. &#8220They sent one of their investigators over and he is working with us.”

The body was sent to Mississippi Mortuary Service in Rankin County.