A body found in a northwest Iowa field has been identified as that of a missing truck driver, discovered not far from where his abandoned rig was found on an isolated highway just before Thanksgiving.
But details of his death remain a mystery.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety said Thursday the state medical examiner's office had conducted a forensic autopsy, and authorities identified the body as that of David Schultz, 53, with dental records. The department said authorities do not suspect foul play in his death. Preliminary autopsy results showed no signs of trauma or serious injury, the agency said. Further results are pending.
The department said someone in his field discovered a body Wednesday, near where Schultz's semi was found parked in the middle of the road on Nov. 21.
Schultz's wife, Sarah, told reporters on Thursday that the person discovered was wearing boots that matched her husband's, and his keys were found in the pants pocket.
The discovery, she said, brought a mixture of relief and sorrow.
“I'm glad we know where he is now,” Sarah Schultz said. “There's still a lot of questions. Things don't make sense.”
Schultz, of Wall Lake, Iowa, left home late on the night of Nov. 20 to pick up a load of pigs from a hog confinement near Eagle Grove, Iowa. He was expected to deliver the pigs the next morning to a livestock dealer in Sac City, Iowa, a small farming town about 90 miles (145 km) northwest of Des Moines. When he didn’t show up, no one could get him on the phone.
Sarah Schultz reported him missing, and the truck was found later that afternoon, less than 10 miles (6.2 km) northeast of his destination. The pigs were still in the trailer. Schultz's wallet and phone were inside his rig. His jacket was on the roadside.
Jake Rowley, the regional team leader of United Cajun Navy, a nonprofit search-and-rescue organization that helped with the search, said local law enforcement agencies searched the area where the body was found immediately after Schultz went missing, including with drones. More than 250 volunteers searched an additional 100,000 acres.
An unanswered question, Rowley said, was whether the the body “was there the entire time," or if it was recently moved to the spot where it was found.
Sarah Schultz described her husband as a devoted family man who stressed to his kids the importance of being respectful and working hard.
“He was such a good father,” Sarah Schultz said. “It's not fair.”
Jake Rowley consoles Sarah Schultz, the wife of Wall Lake truck driver David Schultz, while talking about the discovery of her husband's body on Wednesday during a news conference Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Sac City, Iowa. David Schultz had been missing since Nov. 21, 2023, when his truck was found parked on Sac County Road N-14. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
FILE - This undated family photo shows David Schultz with his two sons. The body of an Iowa trucker who went missing just before Thanksgiving has been found, according to his wife. The Iowa Department of Public Safety said Wednesday, April 25, 2024, that a body was found in a farm field near where David Schultz's semi was found parking on a two-lane highway. (Family photo via AP)
LONDON (AP) — Millions of voters in England cast ballots Thursday in an array of local elections, the last big test before a looming U.K. general election that all indicators suggest will see the Labour Party return to power after 14 years in the wilderness.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was barely able to point to any big success for his Conservative Party, confirming that the electoral coalition that gave the party a big win in the 2019 general election has frayed, if not completely dissolved, in the wake of a series of political dramas and the cost of living crisis.
For Labour leader Keir Starmer, the results provided confirmation of what opinion polls have shown for two years — that Labour has recovered from its 2019 low and is on course to win the election comfortably.
Here are five things we learned:
It's possible.
Though the Conservatives lost around half the 1,000 council seats they held, and suffered a huge defeat in the special parliamentary election in Blackpool South, a coastal resort town in the northwest of England, it looks as though Sunak will not face a revolt just yet from anxious lawmakers in his party.
That's largely because the Conservative candidate in the mayoral contest in Tees Valley in the northeast of England hung on, albeit with a much depressed vote. That helped soothe some concerns despite losses elsewhere.
However, the defeat of the Conservative incumbent mayor in the West Midlands could prompt another bout of jitters among lawmakers increasingly concerned about their ability to hold onto their seats in a general election. Sunak is under pressure from different wings of the party to go further right or move to the center.
Overall, the results show that Sunak hasn't improved the Conservatives’ overall position following the damage caused by the actions of his predecessors, Boris Johnson, who was effectively ousted, and then replaced by Liz Truss, whose tenure lasted only 49 days after her economic policies rocked financial markets.
Probably in the fall.
In the U.K., the date of the general election rests in the hands of the prime minister. It has to take place by January, and Sunak has repeatedly said that his “working assumption” was that it would take place in the second half of 2024.
Though that theoretically could take place as soon as July, most Conservative lawmakers have indicated that the best time would be in the fall, when recent tax cuts may register with voters, inflation has fallen further, and interest rates may have been cut — helping to fuel an economic feelgood factor.
Waiting till the fall may also give the government a chance to cut taxes again in another budget. Conservatives will also be hoping that the controversial plan to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda will have got off the ground and that there is evidence that it is acting as a deterrent for those seeking to make the dangerous crossing in small boats across the English Channel from France to England.
It looks like it.
In historical terms, Labour has a mountain to climb, if it’s going to form the next government. Its performance at the last general election in 2019 was its worst since 1935. Starmer has tried to bring the party back to the center of U.K. politics after the leadership of veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn.
Starmer’s approach has clearly worked if Thursday's results are anything to go by. Labour won control of councils in England that the party hasn’t held for decades, and was successful on a massive swing away from the Conservatives in Blackpool South, which if repeated at the general election would lead to a big majority.
Labour won in areas that voted for Britain’s departure from the European Union in 2016 and where it was crushed by Brexit-backer Johnson, such as Hartlepool in the northeast of England, and Thurrock in southeast England. It also seized control of Rushmoor, a leafy and military-heavy council in the south of England where it had never won, showing that it has a broad base of support.
It’s fair to say that enthusiasm levels are far lower than those that heralded the arrival of Labour's Tony Blair before the 1997 general election.
That may be partly because of the more challenging economic backdrop, but Starmer, formerly a human rights lawyer, lacks the razzmatazz of Blair.
It'll be tough.
One of the contributing factors to Blair’s landslide victory in 1997 came from so-called tactical voting, whereby some voters put aside their political preference and vote for whoever has the best chance of defeating the party they oppose the most. In 1997, that was the Conservatives.
Tactical voting has reemerged and was evident somewhat in Thursday's elections where Conservative candidates lost out to other parties, not just Labour, but also to the centrist Liberal Democrats and also to the Green Party.
The Conservatives may also be outflanked from the right, with Reform U.K. poised to stand candidates across Britain. In Thursday's elections, it was a minimal presence but where the party did stand, it clearly took votes away from Conservative candidates. That was notable in Blackpool South, where the Reform candidate was just shy of usurping the Conservatives into second.
Should Reform, which claims to be tougher on issues such as immigration and on Brexit, do as well in a general election, then it could lead to other parties, notably Labour, defeating Conservatives.
It certainly looks like it.
In some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Blackburn and Oldham in northwest England, Labour candidates appear to have suffered as a result of the leadership’s strongly pro-Israel stance over the conflict in Gaza.
Labour's vote share was clearly impacted, but the effect on its performance in a general election remains unclear, as those seats with a big Muslim population generally have big Labour majorities.
London Mayoral Labour Party candidate Sadiq Khan pats his dog Luna as they pose for the media he arrives to vote in London, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Khan, is seeking re-election, and standing against 12 other candidates for the post of Mayor of London. There are other Mayoral elections in English cities and as well as local council elections. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Britain's Labour leader Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria leave the polling station in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency, after casting their votes in the local and London Mayoral election, in north London, Thursday May 2, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
Counting begins at the Blackpool South by-election at Blackpool Sports Centre in Blackpool, England, Thursday, May 2, 2024. The by-election was triggered after the resignation of Scott Benton. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Tourists on a cycle tour in wet weather plastic macs, cycle past the Houses of Parliament, in London Friday, May 3, 2024. Britain's governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as local election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U.K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Conservative party candidate Lord Ben Houchen, left, with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following his re-election as Tees Valley Mayor in Teesside, England, Friday May 3, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
Britain's Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer with newly elected East Midlands mayor Claire Ward during a visit to Forest Town Arena in Mansfield, England, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Jacob King/PA via AP)
Britain's Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer, center, and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, celebrate with David Skaith at Northallerton Town Football Club, North Yorkshire, after winning the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election, Friday May 3, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
