BOONE, Iowa, June 9 (UPI) — The body pulled from the Des Moines River near Boone, Iowa, is that of missing teenager Kathlynn Shepard, authorities said Sunday.
Results of an autopsy performed Saturday by Chief State Medical Examiner Julia Goodin results show Shepard, whose body was found Friday night, died of “multiple sharp and blunt force injuries” to her head, The Des Moines Register reported. The 15-year-old’s death will be certified a homicide, the newspaper said.
“Today, our family has lost part of its soul. Not just the Shepard family, but the families of Dayton and all of Iowa,” Katelynn’s father Michael Shepard said in a statement to the Dayton Leader.
Gerard Meyers, assistant director of the Department of Criminal Investigations, said the effort will continue to to determine whether Michael Klunder, who is accused of kidnapping and killing Kathlynn, had anyone help him.
She and 12-year-old Dezi Hughes were abducted May 20 after getting off a school bus in Webster County.
Klunder, who was paroled in 2011 after serving almost 20 years for kidnapping, took the girls to a hog confinement where he worked south of Dayton and bound their hands. Dezi escaped when Klunder took Kathlynn to another part of the property, police said.
Klunder took his own life later that day, authorities said.
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