Human Remains Identified as Man Who Disappeared in 2017, But Wasn't Reported Missing Until 2024
A person looking for mushrooms discovered the remains of Curtis Goodwin, who was last seen in December 2017, but wasn't reported missing until earlier this year
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Human Remains Found by Mushroom Hunter Identified as Man Who Disappeared in 2017Police in Missouri have identified the remains of a man who had been missing since 2017 after his body was discovered by a local mushroom scavenger.
Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase confirmed to PEOPLE that a man whose remains by a wild morel hunter were found in a wooded area west of Ava, Mo., earlier this month.
Authorities have now identified the man as Curtis Goodwin, according to Degase. Goodwin was 37 at the time he went missing in December 2017, authorities say, but it wasn't until Feb. 6, 2024 that he was reported missing because of a family estrangement.
The sheriff says that was Goodwin's body was found heavily decomposed, and the hunter who found him discovered a skull with hardly any flesh or hair present. Heavy winter clothing was also present at the scene.
Degase says the Sheriff's Office is now awaiting reports from a forensic pathologist to determine Goodwin's cause of death. While investigators haven't ruled out foul play, there isn't evidence at the moment that suggests that, Degase adds.
"What they're looking for," Degase says, "is there any fractures to the skull? Is there any fractures to the arm? Is there is there a rib bones that may have, you know, a laceration from a knife? Is there a rib bones or bones that may have been shot with a with a firearm? So they examine each skeletal remain to make sure that it has not been injured."
This is just one of many instances where a mushroom scavenger has discovered human remains in this area of the Midwest during the hunting season. Just this month, police in Independence, Mo. were alerted to another dead body by a morel hunter, local ABC affiliate KMBC reported.
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According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, morels (a type of funi) are most commonly found in wooded areas on warm spring days in late April — which leads lots of hunters to pay more close attention to their surroundings during this time of year.
"I think during the mushroom hunting season, the deer hunting season, the turkey hunting season," Degase says. "I mean, you just have you have people that are out in the woods more and, you know, they're just going to come across remains."
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