A body recovered by the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office and White Earth Police Department shortly before 6 p.m. on Thursday has been positively identified as that of missing Naytahwaush resident Francis William “Frank” Brown III.
Brown, 31, was last seen leaving his girlfriend’s home, about 18 miles east of Mahnomen, on the evening of Oct. 4.
“The man was reported to us as missing on Oct. 7 - the same day that his vehicle was found on County Road 4 just on the east side of Naytahwaush,” said Mahnomen County Sheriff Doug Krier in a Friday afternoon interview.
After a lengthy search, “Frank’s brother Reggie found him in a swampy area about 300 yards from where his vehicle was discovered,” Krier added.
The body was recovered early Thursday evening and sent to the coroner’s office in Grand Forks for identification purposes, and later for a full autopsy and toxicology report.
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“We should have the results from that (autopsy and toxicology report) in about three weeks,” Krier said.
“We called the BCA (Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) and crime lab to assist us in processing the scene,” he added. “It’s a crime scene until we say it’s not.”
Those involved in the search for Brown included not only Mahnomen County sheriff’s deputies and White Earth police officers, but also deputies from Polk County, a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter crew, Twin Lakes firefighters and White Earth forestry employees.
A former sheriff’s office chief deputy also used his private plane to help in the search, and there were about 45 volunteers from the Naytahwaush area assisting in the extensive ground and air search.
Follow Detroit Lakes Newspapers reporter Vicki Gerdes on Twitter at @VickiLGerdes .
