Second autopsy of David Schultz to proceed without body

WALL LAKE — A second autopsy of Wall Lake trucker David Schultz will proceed even after his funeral services this week, a spokesman for the Schultz family said.

David Schultz, 53, was found dead April 24 in a field in rural Sac County, not far from where his semi-trailer truck was found abandoned more than five months earlier. Preliminary autopsy results from the State Medical Examiner’s Office indicated "no signs of trauma or serious injury," and authorities said they do not suspect foul play. But final results of the autopsy are expected to take several weeks, and it’s unclear if the findings will be made public.

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Jake Rowley, a leader in the volunteer search for Schultz who has since become a spokesman for the family, quickly countered that the family would seek out a second-opinion autopsy, and said "I don't feel comfortable with the results of the initial autopsy."

Meanwhile, Schultz's funeral is scheduled for Friday in Wall Lake. Rowley told The Journal by phone the funeral will proceed as scheduled, and that the body will not be needed for the second autopsy. Schultz's remains have been released to his widow, Sarah, Rowley said, and were at a funeral home.

"Originally I thought that they would need the remains to do (the second autopsy)," Rowley said; but, in his conversation with forensic pathologists, he said he learned the second autopsy would be based on the examination, measurements and findings of the first autopsy. "The remains will be buried," he said.

Rowley said a forensic pathologist has not been selected for the second autopsy, which cannot proceed until the first is complete. The choice of forensic pathologist will be based on "whichever one's willing to do it pro bono," and that one pathologist told him a second autopsy would be "way more expensive than you think it is."

Rowley said he's grown weary of the chorus of voices on social media that have descended on the case, offering scores of theories.

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"There's even been people accusing me of killing David," Rowley said, noting that he did not get involved until the third day after the disappearance. "I'm like, 'C'mon, dude.' All I did was come out and search for him — it's just nuts. They've got a whole Facebook group that is literally the most toxic thing anybody's ever seen."

Social media followers of the case have recently begun questioning where exactly Schultz's body was found, and how close it was to his abandoned truck. The Iowa Department of Public Safety has said that Schultz was found in the vicinity of 190th Street and Union Avenue in Sac County, which is near where the truck was found. But the exact location hasn't been revealed.

"I know the specific location, but I haven't been authorized yet to release that," Rowley said. "So, until law enforcement would tell me that I'm OK to talk about that, I can't necessarily say exactly where. I do know, exactly, to the pinpoint, where it was at. But I've been pretty vague up to this point, just because I can't, until law enforcement or somebody would give me that authorization to be able to release that, or unless law enforcement released it themselves — that's when I'd be able to say, 'OK, here it is.'"

Reward status unclear

Schultz's body was discovered by "an individual who reported he discovered a body in his field," according to a news release Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

As of March, a reward fund of $28,400 had been established to help locate Schultz; this fund included $25,000 of American Rescue Plan funds that Sac County voted to earmark for the case. Sac County Attorney Ben Smith told The Journal that no one has inquired about the reward.

"That's not an issue that's come up," he said. Smith declined to comment on whether anyone is eligible for the reward.