An investigation is continuing into the discovery of a body floating in the Ceraland Park lake late Tuesday morning.
Columbus Police Chief Jon Rohde said a Ceraland park employee discovered the body at about 11:20 a.m. and notified Columbus police, who activated the Bartholomew County Death Investigation Team. The team is made up of Columbus police, Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies, Indiana State Police, the county coroner’s office and the prosecutor’s office.
Identification of the body had not been completed by late Tuesday and investigators remained at the scene most of the day.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is also at the scene as part of the investigation.
Drones are being used to document the scene from above, and underwater drones are being used to gather evidence in the lake, police said Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators are trying to determine if the individual found in the lake is a 22-year-old local man reported missing after last being seen at Ceraland in the early morning hours of May 4, police said.
Rohde confirmed that the body was found near where the missing man’s vehicle was located in the park last week, when the search for him began.
Indiana State Police issued a silver alert for Timothy Cohee Duckworth, 22, a white male who is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with brown hair and brown eyes, last seen wearing pants and a shirt with no shoes.
Duckworth was last seen at the park, 3989 S. County Road 525E, at 1 a.m. May 4, police said.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
