SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas -- Authorities have determined the cause of death but have no positive identification yet for a decomposed body they feel certain is a former Braniff International Airways vice president who disappeared a month ago.
Hopkins County Sheriff J.E. Tittle said he expected a final report today from the Dallas County medical examiner on whether the homicide victim found Friday was Edson 'Ted' Beckwith, 51.
Tittle and a Texas Ranger helping the investigation said shortly after the body's discovery that they were certain they had found Beckwith.
The cause of death was multiple stab wounds and Tittle said the case had been officially classified as a homicide. He said further tests were needed to determine how long the man had been dead.
The fully clothed body, which bore Beckwith's gold wristwatch and his wallet containing a driver's license and credit cards, was found by a rancher Friday in a dry creek bed near Sulphur Springs in northeast Texas.
Authorities had found Beckwith's late model car about 5 miles away on Oct. 15, the day after he failed to return to his Dallas home, 75 miles to the west, from a business trip.
Until spring of 1981, Beckwith was vice president for finances at now-bankrupt Braniff. After he was fired in a management housecleaning, he formed a business consulting firm.
Tittle said authorities had uncovered no new leads since Beckwith's disappearance.
