Body discovered Sunday morning in Fish Farms Mounds Wildlife Area; Link to October missing person case being investigated

Sunday, December 10 at approximately 8:27 a.m., the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a body located in a wooded area in the Fish Farm Mounds Wildlife Area south of New Albin along State Highway 26. Two hikers reported that they had found a body while hiking the area.

Officers from the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Department and a physician did respond to the location and determined that the remains found were those of a male individual and that the individual had been deceased for some time. The body was transported to the State of Iowa Medical Examiners’ Office in Ankeny for an autopsy and identification, which Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick said may take up to two weeks to complete. No foul play is suspected in the matter, according to the initial report from the Sheriff's Office.

The Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with the Kewanee, IL Police Department regarding a missing person case reported October 3 of this year to the Kewanee Police Department involving 26-year-old Juan Gandarilla Ortega of Kewanee, IL. One day following that report, October 4, a white 2006 Chevrolet Impala believed to be operated by Ortega was located at the Fish Farm Mounds Wildlife Area. Multiple searches, including the use of cadaver search dogs, were conducted of the area at that time and were unsuccessful.

Postings on several online platforms by members of Ortega's family seem to confirm that the discovered body is that of Ortega, although the case remains under investigation by the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office. Assisting at the scene of Sunday's discovery were Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officers, the New Albin Fire Department and Veterans Memorial Hospital personnel.

Sheriff Mellick explained that the area of Sunday's body location is a densely vegetated area that has thinned out some since the original searches due to the changing of the seasons. He also indicated that a series of ridges in that location may have impacted the direction the cadaver dogs traveled as they attempted to track any scent back in October.