Hundreds of missing FedEx packages found in Alabama ravine. How did they get there?
UPDATE: The Blount County Sheriff’s Office announced Dec. 10 that Deandre Charleston, 22, confessed to making five visits to the ravine between in November to dump packages. Warrants were issued for his arrest on five charges of cargo theft, officials said.
The original story continues below.
Hundreds of unopened FedEx packages were found in an Alabama ravine the day before Thanksgiving, according to the Blount County Sheriff’s Office.
How they got there remains a mystery, but FedEx was called to come get them, officials said in a Nov. 24 news release. The county is just northeast of Birmingham.
“To everyone in West Blount County missing packages from FedEx. I currently have a deputy on a location where it appears 300-400 boxes of assorted sizes have been thrown off a ravine,” Sheriff Mark Moon wrote in a Facebook post. “Hopefully we will have some answers soon.”
The exact location was not revealed, officials said, but it was on private property.
In an update posted Monday, Nov. 29, the sheriff’s office reported that FedEx security personnel had “identified and questioned” one of its drivers in connection with the “debacle.”
The driver is suspected of visiting the ravine at least six times to dump packages.
“As of right now we are looking at around 450 individual victims, some in Blount County some not, that investigators are attempting to work their cases,” Moon said. “This will not be an easy or fast case to close. Again I am asking for patience from our citizens as our investigators work through this case.”
Investigators have not offered a theory on how the packages ended up in the ravine, but photos show the boxes were scattered rather than stacked.
FedEx was alerted and the sheriff’s office reports the company “sent multiple trucks and drivers from all over the south” to collect the packages on Thanksgiving Day. A local church supplied the crew with holidays meals, officials said.
The sheriff’s office asked the public to stay away from the area until the packages were picked up. A deputy stood by to guard the boxes until they were removed, officials said.
Some of the packages had been “opened by the land owner looking for names and addresses,” the sheriff’s office said.
The packages “had been sitting there for nearly a week” when they were finally discovered, the sheriff’s office told station WPMI.
The discovery comes at a time of year when millions of Americans are turning to online shopping and home delivery as a way to do their holiday shopping.
FedEx issued a statement Nov. 25 to media outlets, WBRC reported: “We are taking steps to recover and transport the affected packages as quickly as possible. In addition to cooperating with law enforcement, we are conducting a review of this situation and will take the appropriate action. Customers with questions about their shipments can track their packages by visiting http://fedex.com.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2021 at 6:36 AM with the headline "Hundreds of missing FedEx packages found in Alabama ravine. How did they get there?."