Authorities in central Iowa have identified a body found northeast of Des Moines. A motorist who’d hit a deer and returned to try and find the antlers discovered instead a man’s body in a wooded area about 150 yards away from U.S. Highway 65. Late Monday, investigators who held a press conference in Altoona announced the remains had been identified as 54-year-old Lance Morningstar, who’d worked for the secondary-roads department in Polk County. The investigators say he was divorced and lived in Ankeny. His family had reported him missing in early October, though the last time a witness can confirm he was seen was on September 30th at a tavern on Des Moines’ northeast side. The medical examiner says Morningstar died of a shotgun wound, and the case is being handled as a homicide.
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