POTOSI, Mo. — More than a week after a relative reported a Potosi woman missing, a body found Wednesday near a farm in Washington County, Missouri, has been identified as her remains. It remains unclear how long her body had been there.
Sgt. Greg Adams, commander of the Mineral Area Major Case Squad, said that during the execution of a search warrant on a farm located in the 10000 block of Shirley School Road in Potosi in Washington County, Missouri, someone told law enforcement personnel they'd seen a dead body belonging to a woman on the adjoining property nearby.
The body was identified Wednesday as 44-year-old Donna Eye by her relatives. An official autopsy will be performed on Friday to investigate the cause or manner of death.
The Mineral Area Major Case Squad was initially activated Tuesday to assist in the search for Eye.
According to a Tuesday news release from the Major Case Squad, Eye was last seen on Jan. 9 near Shirley School Road in Potosi. A family member reported her missing on Thursday.
Capt. Scott Reed with the Washington County Sheriff's Office confirmed that a deputy responded to a call for service at a hospital on the night of Jan. 8 and picked Eye up from the hospital. Twenty minutes later, at around midnight, the deputy dropped Eye off on Shirley School Road.
The deputy said that Eye said that road was where the end of her brother's driveway was, Reed said.
However, Eye's brother, Ronald Eye, said that she was dropped off at a conservation/service road that was not the end of his driveway, and her family hasn't seen her since.
Ronald Eye said his sister had his exact address and that he was never notified of her release from the hospital.
During the first search for her, he found the things she took to the hospital on a snowy hill.
"It's not like her to do this. She doesn't want her family to worry about her," Ronald Eye said. "We found her duffel bag she had took to the hospital with her, it had her clothes and her makeup."
Ronald searched for his sister with family and friends in the thick brush of the Mark Twain National Forest, combing through what he could of the 1.5 million acres.
"Usually she'd keep with loved ones, she'd go between my house, go to her friends house or to her sons house. She was back and forth between Marion, Illinois and here (Potosi). But lately she hasn't been doing that as much because of her condition," Ronald said.
Ronald said lately his sister Donna had been battling a mental illness as a result of a medical procedure that caused her brain to swell and made her unable to walk properly.
Neighbor Patty King has lived in the wooded area all her life. She's helped with the search and checks on Ronald frequently.
"I'm there for them! He knows. We help each other, we're going to continue that, it doesn't stop," King said.
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