Body found on Mississippi River bank in Monroe County to be examined this week

A badly decomposed body found on the Mississippi River bank in Monroe County Sunday will be examined by a forensic anthropologist to determine the person’s age, sex and race.

The skeletal remains were found in on the Mississippi River banks area near Levee and Merrimac roads by a couple and their friend who had been fishing, according to the Waterloo Republic-Times newspaper.

The body was reduced to bones and the clothes the person was wearing, Monroe County Coroner Bob Hill confirmed. It was found in thick brush, he said.

Multiple local fire departments were called to help retrieve the remains including Columbia and Valmeyer in Illinois and Jefferson County, Missouri. The Illinois State Police crime scene unit was requested by Monroe County Sheriff’s Department to assist with the investigation, the Waterloo newspaper reported.

A possible cause of death has not been released. Messages left with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department investigations unit have not been returned.

Hill said more information will be released once the age, sex and race can be determined.