The Bartholomew County Coroner’s office has released the identity of the adult male found in a Ceraland Park lake on Tuesday.
The individual was identified as Timothy C. Duckworth, 22, of Columbus, according to Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting.
A Ceraland park employee discovered the body floating in the lake at about 11:20 a.m. Tuesday 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.
Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash, who is the spokesman for the death investigation team, said Thursday that Duckworth’s death is being investigated as a “suspicious death.”
“If there are circumstances where foul play could be suspected, and since it was reported as a missing person’s case, the circumstances make it concerning,” Nash said. The language in a memorandum of understanding creating the county’s death investigation team calls for the team to be mobilized if there is apparent or a suspected homicide, he said.
Right now, Duckworth’s death is considered “suspicious,” he said.
A forensic autopsy was performed Thursday in Columbus, and the Bartholomew County Death Investigation Team continues to investigate the death. A cause of death was not released on Thursday by the coroner’s office.
Duckworth was the subject of a Silver Alert issued May 4 by Columbus Police Department.
He was last seen at the park, 3989 S. County Road 525E, at 1 a.m. May 4, Columbus police said. Police confirmed that Duckworth’s body was found in the lake near where his vehicle was found in the park when he was reported missing.
