OTTUMWA, Iowa – Skeletal remains found on the banks of the Des Moines River near Keosauqua in 2022 have been identified as a missing Iowa man. KCCI-TV reports investigators say the remains belong to Timothy Fortney, of Ottumwa, who was 22 years old when his mother first reported him missing in 2019. At that point, he hadn’t been seen for more than a year. He was added to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in 2021.

The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office recovered a human femur bone from the riverbank of the Des Moines River outside of Keosauqua in February 2022. Authorities partnered with a team from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and private lab Othram Inc., which matched DNA from the bone to that taken from samples of Fortney’s family members.

Timothy Fortney

This year Southeast Missouri State and Othram also helped identify remains found by a Missouri hunter in 1978 as 15-year-old Helen Renee Groomes, who went missing from Ottumwa in 1977.

It’s unclear what led to Fortney’s death. The case is still under investigation. Anyone with information about Fortney’s death is encouraged to contact the Ottumwa Police Department Investigations Unit at (641) 683-0661.