A body believed to be that of a missing truck driver has been found in a northwest Iowa field not far from where his abandoned rig was discovered on an isolated highway just before Thanksgiving, but details of his death remain a mystery.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety stated that someone in his field discovered a body Wednesday, near where 53-year-old David Schultz's semi was found parked in the middle of the road on Nov. 21.
The DPS didn't identify the body as that of Schultz and said in a news release that a forensic autopsy was planned. But Schultz's wife, Sarah, revealed to CBS affiliate KCCI-TV and other media outlets on Thursday that the person found was wearing boots that matched her husband's, and his keys were found in the pants pocket.
The discovery, she said, brought a mixture of relief and sorrow.
"I'm glad we know where he is now," Sarah Schultz said. "There's still a lot of questions. Things don't make sense."
"It is a mystery to me why he would have gone out there and laid down," she said. "I know he wouldn't have done that unless something bad happened."
Schultz, a resident of Wall Lake, Iowa, set out late on the night of Nov. 20 to collect a shipment of pigs from a hog farm near Eagle Grove, Iowa. His plan was to transport the pigs the following morning to a livestock dealer in Sac City, Iowa, a small farming community approximately 90 miles northwest of Des Moines. When he failed to arrive at his destination, he could not be reached by phone.
Jake Rowley, the regional leader of United Cajun Navy, a non-profit organization dedicated to search and rescue efforts, mentioned that local law enforcement agencies had conducted a thorough search of the area where Schultz was last seen, utilizing drones. Over 250 volunteers scoured an additional 100,000 acres in search of him.
One lingering question, according to Rowley, is whether the body "had been there all along," or if it had been recently moved to the location where it was discovered.
According to Sarah Schultz, her husband was a dedicated family man who always emphasized the values of respect and hard work to their children.
"He was an exceptional father," Sarah Schultz lamented. "Life can be so unjust."
