MIDDLETOWN — A multi-agency homicide team has been assembled to uncover leads in a suspected homicide that took place Monday in rural Middletown.

Henry County Sheriff Butch Baker said his department will work alongside detectives from the New Castle Police Department and the Madison County coroner’s office to determine what led to the death of Michael C. Patterson.

Patterson, 49, died Monday afternoon, soon after his wife discovered him severely beaten at the family home. Baker said Patterson sustained cuts and abrasions to the head and face as a result of being struck several times, although it was unclear whether a weapon was used.

Baker said that a canvas has been set up on a corner near the victim’s home at 7003 W. Henry County Road 950 North, stopping cars and conducting interviews.

“Obviously, we’re looking for any information we can get,” Baker said. “We’re going to set up a vehicle and canvas, stop people. Not everybody has seen the newspaper. We’re hoping that between 2 o’clock and 3 o’clock we can find someone passing through here who might have some information.”

The Henry County Homicide Team is also seeking the driver of a dark red, Ford dually pickup truck with a bedliner and toolbox, as a possible person of interest.

“One of the witnesses investigators talked to yesterday indicated that they had seen this vehicle in area earlier in the day and that one time it was in the driveway,” Baker said. “We want to see what the driver was doing there and whether he might have seen anything.”

Baker said the driver is described as a white male with brown hair, 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall and between 200 and 240 pounds.

Patterson worked for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources at Mounds State Park in Anderson and left Monday in order to be home when his children returned from school. His wife, Macarena C. Patterson, 38, arrived before the children and discovered her husband seriously injured, but alive, and called police. Patterson was transported to Saint John’s Hospital Medial Center in Anderson, where he was pronounced dead.

Madison County Coroner Ned Dunnichay was scheduled to perform the autopsy Tuesday, since Patterson died in Madison County.

The Henry County Sheriff’s Department failed to discover a weapon after executing a search warrant at Patterson’s home. Nothing appeared to be missing, but Baker said there were signs of forced entry that may or may not be related to Patterson’s death.