Drugs, cold and lack of sleep led to Iowa trucker’s death

SAC CITY — David Schultz had been working for nearly 30 straight hours, with little or no rest, the night he parked his semi-trailer truck along a rural road and went to an adjacent farm field last November, the Sac County Attorney said Friday.

Intoxicated from using meth, the Wall Lake trucker died from hypothermia in the field, about a quarter-mile from where his truck, hauling a load of hogs, was discovered abandoned the next day, on Nov. 21, 2023.

Six months later, on April 24, a farmworker, while driving a tractor through the field, came across Schultz's body.

Dr. Kelly Kruse, a state medical examiner, listed Schultz's manner of death as an accident, according to the death certificate, a copy of which was obtained by the Sioux City Journal.

The certificate lists the immediate cause of death as: "Hypothermia In the Setting of Acute Drug (methamphetamine) Intoxication." In the "description of injury line," Kelly listed: "Ingested drug and exposed to environmental cold."

"The combination of severe sleep deprivation and methamphetamine use is believed to have induced a medical emergency, causing Schultz to abandon his truck and ultimately succumb to the elements in the field where he was later found," Sac County Attorney Ben Smith said in a statement Friday.

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Temperatures on Nov. 20, the night Schultz disappeared, dipped to 30 degrees. The low the following day, Nov. 21, was 35 degrees. During the week that followed, the overnight low temperature at one point fell as low as 11 degrees. For three straight nights that week, the low temperature was 18 degrees.

Hypothermia can affect people even in cooler temperatures over 40 degrees if they become chilled from sweat, rain or submersion in cold water, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

In the days after Schultz disappeared, local authorities, assisted by scores of volunteers, searched a reported 100,000 acres in a wide radius of where his truck was abandoned.

"The vast size of the search area and environmental conditions made it challenging to locate Schultz's deceased body," Smith said in a news release. "Search operations focused on areas of fields where shrubbery and vegetation were present, such as fence lines and field borders, under the belief that a person would be more easily seen in open areas. In addition, the search teams focused on areas that appeared more probable for someone to seek refuge or become trapped."

The field where Schultz died presented challenges, Smith said. The cornstalks in the field, both flattened and standing, with some approximately at shin height, effectively hid or camouflaged Schultz's body, which was lying supine, he said.

The farmworker, who was preparing the ground for spring planting, did not even notice the body until his tractor was within about 100 feet, Smith said.

"I think it was close enough to the road that searchers thought, 'Well, we don’t need to look here because we could definitely see him,'" Smith told The Journal on Thursday.

Based on the final results of the autopsy, the medical examiner ruled out homicide. In the months that followed the discovery of Schultz’s body, law enforcement officials also conducted an exhaustive investigation, which yielded no signs of foul play, Smith said.

"It is clear from the evidence gathered at the scene and the body’s state of decomposition that Schultz had been in the field for months," Smith said in the statement.

Investigators learned that Schultz had been operating his truck for nearly 30 hours, with little or no sleep, motivated by his desire to support his business and young family.

A married father of twin boys, Schultz was last heard from in the early morning hours of Nov. 21. He traveled to a hog confinement unit near Eagle Grove on the night of Nov. 20 to pick up a load of hogs and deliver them to a hog buying station in Sac City.

Video footage showed him at a truck stop near Fort Dodge around 11:15 p.m. on Nov. 20. After leaving the truck stop, his truck was seen heading west on U.S. Highway 20. After reaching the intersection of Hwys. 20 and 71, the truck turned north on county road N-14, rather than traveling south toward the Wiechman Pig station in Sac City, the intended destination.

His Peterbilt semi was parked in the middle of the northbound lane of County Road N-14, not far from where it intersects with D-15, in rural Sac County. Cellphone data shows the truck might have been there since 12:40 a.m. Nov. 21. A county roads worker discovered the truck later that afternoon.

The truck reportedly was shut off, the lights were off and the key was in the ignition. Deputies found Schultz's wallet and cellphone inside. A towel, cellphone charger and pocketknife were found with his coat on the opposite side of the road, according to Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure.

His mysterious disappearance attracted media attention around the globe, generating an outpouring of support for Schultz's family. His wife, Sarah, posted nearly daily Facebook updates about the search for her husband and details of his life, drawing scores of followers.

Dolly Butz, Mason Dockter and Jared McNett of The Journal contributed to this report.