UPDATED STATEMENT FROM THE BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY CORONER’S OFFICE:
COLUMBUS, Ind. – The Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office is joining other member agencies of the Bartholomew County Death Investigation Team in response to an adult body discovered Tuesday at Ceraland Park, southeast of Columbus. The body was found in a lake at the park, and has not been identified at this time, according to Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting.
Further information will be released later this week through the death investigation team, which is comprised of members from the Columbus Police Department, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana State Police, Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office and the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office.
ORIGINAL STORY
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 in the lake 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, which included bringing boats and Indiana State Police divers to the scene.
Drones were being used to document the scene from above, and underwater drones were used to gather evidence in the lake, police said Tuesday afternoon.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryInvestigators 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 near the lake area 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.
Flyers have been placed at different locations around Columbus since Duckworth’s disappearance and his parents had asked local media early this week to run reminders that he was still missing.
