A mayoral candidate in Mississippi has been found dead, and his death is being investigated as a homicide, authorities said.

Coahoma County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday in a news release on its Facebook page that the body of 34-year-old Marco McMillian, a Democratic candidate for mayor of Clarksdale, Miss., was found in Coahoma County earlier in the day.

The body was found in the woods near the Mississippi-Yazoo levee, about 30 miles away from a roadway where McMillian’s car crashed while being driven by another person, County Coroner Scotty Meredith said.

Meredith added that investigators were treating the case as a homicide until they could prove otherwise.

A person of interest was in custody, but had not been formally charged, Will Rooker, a spokesman for the Coahoma County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC News.

Police did not identify the person of interest.