The worldwide search for University professor George M. Zinkhan ended Saturday morning in a shallow grave less than two miles from where it started a fortnight ago.

Led there by the noses of Madison, an Australian shepherd, and Circe, a German shepherd, members of the Alpha Search team unearthed Zinkhan’s decomposing body. Covered with dirt and leaves, the hidden body was found aside two handguns a mile from where his 2005 Jeep Liberty was discovered and two miles from his home in Bogart, where he was last seen dropping off his children April 25.

“A person not accustomed to the woods would not have found it,” Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Jack Lumpkin said during a news conference Saturday. “The body was beneath the earth. The body was purposely concealed in a manner not to be discovered.”

“There’s no indication that anyone is involved with the death of this body,” added Jim Fullington, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent in charge.

Lumpkin added it was the second time in his decades of police work he’s seen someone bury themselves before committing suicide. He also said he didn’t think the body was in the woods since April 25.

But Zinkhan’s body was clothed much the same way when he was last seen two Saturdays ago, the day Zinkhan walked into a gathering of Town & Gown members at the Athens Community Theatre and fatally shot his wife Marie Bruce, Ben Teague and Tom Tanner.

The Coca-Cola professor in the Department of Marketing and Distribution at Terry College, Zinkhan was the subject of an intense manhunt. The FBI released information Zinkhan had a ticket to leave for Amsterdam on May 2 out of Atlanta. A part-time professor at Amsterdam’s Vrije University, Zinkhan also owned a home in the city.

But on May 1, the massive manhunt descended on northwestern Athens as law enforcement hunted through a large wooded area for Zinkhan after finding his Jeep in a ravine.

The GBI, U.S. Marshals Office, FBI and ACC spent the day on an 1,110-acre tract off Fowler Mill Road looking for Zinkhan, but to no avail. The search Saturday was on another tract of land not far from the previous search, as Alpha search team members Steve Barden and Paula Chambers took Madison and Circe back to double check a spot the two looked at the day before.

“We wanted to go back and make sure” Barden said. “We had looked at the spot Friday, but we came back to eliminate it for sure.”

Not 10 minutes after starting the search Saturday at 9:30 a.m., Madison came across Zinkhan. While the GBI would not at first positively ID the body as Zinkhan’s, it was later confirmed at 6 p.m. A news conference is set for Tuesday when investigators from various agencies will answer more questions about the discovery.

University President Michael Adams thanked law enforcement officials for their work Saturday.

“We are grateful for the professional work of the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that have cooperated to bring this intensive investigation to this point,” Adams wrote. “I am especially appreciative of the UGA police for the measures they took to ensure that the campus community remained safe and secure as we have continued university business during this very trying time.

“Again, I express my sincerest condolences to the loved ones and friends of the victims of this tragedy,” Adams continued. “Our hearts go out to each of them as they try to bring closure to and cope with the pain and sorrow these losses of life have caused them. May they ultimately find healing and peace.”