The body of an elderly Winfield man who had been missing since Aug. 1 was found Thursday evening by a Grant County, Okla. farmer.
An autopsy is planned on Jack Lee Howe but his identification was found with him and his clothing matched the description of the clothing Howe was last seen wearing, Cowley County Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Mueller said.
"The body was found in a cornfield west of the location where the pickup was found," he said.
The farmer was harvesting corn. Howe’s body was well out into the field. Although the search for the missing man included air searches, the corn was tall and leafed out enough where those searching from the air couldn’t see through the corn.
"He was lying flat on the ground in a row of corn," Mueller said. "Why he went that way, I don’t know."
Howe’s pickup was found on the railroad-right-of way south of Caldwell and the Kansas-Oklahoma border. He apparently walked west from there about three-fourth of a mile.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the investigation but Mueller said there was nothing to indicate anything suspicious about Howe’s death other than the circumstances.
Howe disappeared on a Friday night after shopping at Dillon’s in Winfield. He was reported missing the following Sunday and an extensive ground and air search was conducted on several occasions. The pickup was found on Sunday.
"Probably by the time they found the pickup, he was already dead," Mueller said.
Howe lived alone but a son and daughter have both been here. The son was informed last night that his father’s body had been found.
