Nearly three months after the body of the former managing partner of Burr & Forman's Atlanta office was discovered in a wooded area of his Cherokee County estate, a spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said his death “is still very much an active investigation.”

Jay Baker, a spokesman for Sheriff Frank Reynolds, confirmed the death of Gary Wayne Farris is being investigated as a homicide. He would not say how Farris died. He also said little about the circumstances surrounding the discovery of Farris' body on July 5, other than that members of the attorney's family reported it.

WSB-TV has reported that Farris' neighbors said they were questioned by county investigators about whether they heard gunshots and whether they had smelled anything burning. Baker would not confirm that.

Baker also said the sheriff's office “remains confident” that Farris' death “was not a stranger-on-stranger crime and Mr. Farris knew the suspects.” He would not elaborate.

Baker said investigators are waiting for results of a forensic analysis being conducted by the GBI Crime Lab. He would not comment on the condition of the body when it was discovered, but he confirmed it was not until late July that the GBI was able to identify the remains.

A GBI spokeswoman confirmed the bureau conducted the autopsy that identified Farris' body. She said final results of that autopsy are pending. She referred The Daily Report to Cherokee County for information on the results.

On Thursday, Shannon Wallace, district attorney of the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit, which includes Cherokee County, declined to release any details of the case, saying that to do so “might compromise both the investigation and any potential future prosecution.” The investigation remains active, she said.

Farris, 51, joined Burr & Forman—headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama—in 1988 after he graduated that year from the University of Alabama School of Law. In a written statement after Farris' body was identified, the firm said Farris was instrumental in starting its Atlanta office.

At the time of his death, Farris was serving as practice group leader of Burr & Forman's lending practice group representing financial institutions and handling commercial real estate matters, including construction, term and revolving loans, and loan syndications.

The law firm said it would be “inappropriate … to speculate or comment” on the cause of Farris' death but pledged “to cooperate with the investigation, while protecting attorney-client confidences.”