The Sutter County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a possible homicide after a man’s body was found with a gunshot wound at his home at the northern edge of the Sutter Buttes Sunday.

Marvin Leon Hammons, 64, was found by a family member at his home on the 9300 block of North Butte Road and was pronounced dead after sheriff’s deputies arrived. The call was received at 5:28 p.m.

Sheriff J. Paul Parker said Hammons had a single gunshot wound, but he would not say where on his body. Hammons lived alone in a rural area with no close neighbors, Parker said.

“”We’re looking at it as a suspicious death, possibly a homicide,”” Parker said, adding the Department of Justice was assisting in processing evidence from the scene.

Hammons was not known by the sheriff’s department to be engaged in any activity that might have caused his death, Parker said, adding the department has not ruled out the possibility of suicide.

A preliminary autopsy report suggested Hammons died of the wound. Toxicology results are pending.

According to a 2009 Appeal-Democrat story, Hammons was part of a lawsuit over access to Peace Valley State Park, within the Sutter Buttes. Hammons and other property owners in the area contended people were interfering with agricultural operations when they used an access road to visit the park.

There was no answer Monday at a phone listing for Hammons.

A 1993 A-D story said in addition to running a buffalo ranch in the Buttes, he also operated the Ben Toilet Rental business in the Yuba–Sutter area.