blake
Life Member
Carroll hunter found dead in woods; no foul play suspected
A Carroll man who went missing during a coon hound competition on Friday night in eastern Marshall County was found dead late Saturday in a rural wooded area.
Emergency officials began searching for Preston Lee Luft, 26, on Saturday afternoon after he was reported missing around 1 p.m., according to a press release. Luft was found dead in a wooded area near the Iowa River around 11:05 p.m. on Saturday by a group of around 12 hunters searching on their own.
No foul play is suspected at this time, said Burt Tecklenburg, chief deputy with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office. He declined to comment on whether Luft suffered any visible injuries.
From the appearance of the scene, it seems as though Luft was walking back to his truck when he tripped on underbrush and hit his head, said Jack Bingham, 47, president of the Central Iowa Coon Hunters Association. Bingham and his son were both good friends of Luft’s and he was one of the searchers out when his body was found.
On Friday night, Luft was participating in a coon hound competition around the river valley. He was last seen in the woods around 2 a.m. Saturday morning when he split off from other hunters to retrieve his dog.
His body was found within a few hundred yards of where he was last seen, Tecklenburg said. A young boy who came to the competition from Ohio found Luft’s body when he saw light from the headlamp he was wearing, Bingham said.
Luft had been having trouble with the GPS device he was using to track his dog, Tecklenburg said. Another hunter allowed him to use his GPS, and Luft was able to find his dog’s location.
His GPS device also began working again, and Luft set out to retrieve the dog, Tecklenburg said.
He never retrieved it, however, and another hunter picked up the dog Saturday morning along a gravel road about .75 miles from where Luft was found, Tecklenburg said.
When Luft never returned to the lodge used by the Central Iowa Coon Hunters Association, the disappearance was reported to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office by other participants in the competition.
Coon hunters are accustomed to being in the woods at night, Tecklenburg said, and he understands how Luft’s disappearance was originally unnoticed by other hunters. But, the significant time gap between when Luft was last seen and when he was reported missing was problematic, he said.
“One of the problems with this situation…was that he was not reported missing until nearly 12 hours later,” he said. “I just don’t think it became apparent that he was not accounted for immediately.”
In coon hunting, Bingham said, hunters don’t often get lost. But, when they do, it’s not uncommon for them to wait until daylight to find their way out of the woods, he said.
While he knew Luft was missing sometime around 5:30 a.m., he wasn’t immediately concerned, Bingham said. He and his son and another friend searched for Luft themselves until around 12:30 p.m., when they decided to call law enforcement, he said.
“In this sport, you know, if somebody does get lost, it’s not uncommon for them to walk out in daylight,” he said. “It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, nobody is really worried about it.”
Around 100 emergency responders and volunteers searched both land and water through the afternoon and evening on Saturday using boats, horses, all-terrain vehicles, search dogs and a Mercy Air One helicopter from Des Moines.
While searchers walked the banks of the Iowa River and searched from boats, nobody during the Saturday search covered the ground where Luft was eventually found, Tecklenburg said. Officials called off the search for the day around dusk, he said.
The first instinct of law enforcement officials was that Luft may have disappeared into the Iowa River, Tecklenberg said. When coon hunting, it would be common to cross at shallow points throughout the night, he said.
“These guys, as a matter of practice, may have crossed that river six or seven times apiece,” he said. “You’re going to think that the river could be involved somehow.”
The area where Luft was found was 1.5 miles northwest of the unincorporated community of Quarry. Retrieving his body was slowed by thick brush and downed trees, but officials finished the recovery around 2 a.m. Sunday.
The cause of Luft’s death is still unknown, and the Marshall County Medical Examiner and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident.
The Tama Fire Department, Marshalltown Fire Department, Marshall County Emergency Management, K-9 Connection and numerous volunteers assisted the sheriff’s office with the search.
Several of the volunteers who helped search were local and visiting coon hunters.
A Carroll man who went missing during a coon hound competition on Friday night in eastern Marshall County was found dead late Saturday in a rural wooded area.
Emergency officials began searching for Preston Lee Luft, 26, on Saturday afternoon after he was reported missing around 1 p.m., according to a press release. Luft was found dead in a wooded area near the Iowa River around 11:05 p.m. on Saturday by a group of around 12 hunters searching on their own.
No foul play is suspected at this time, said Burt Tecklenburg, chief deputy with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office. He declined to comment on whether Luft suffered any visible injuries.
From the appearance of the scene, it seems as though Luft was walking back to his truck when he tripped on underbrush and hit his head, said Jack Bingham, 47, president of the Central Iowa Coon Hunters Association. Bingham and his son were both good friends of Luft’s and he was one of the searchers out when his body was found.
On Friday night, Luft was participating in a coon hound competition around the river valley. He was last seen in the woods around 2 a.m. Saturday morning when he split off from other hunters to retrieve his dog.
His body was found within a few hundred yards of where he was last seen, Tecklenburg said. A young boy who came to the competition from Ohio found Luft’s body when he saw light from the headlamp he was wearing, Bingham said.
Luft had been having trouble with the GPS device he was using to track his dog, Tecklenburg said. Another hunter allowed him to use his GPS, and Luft was able to find his dog’s location.
His GPS device also began working again, and Luft set out to retrieve the dog, Tecklenburg said.
He never retrieved it, however, and another hunter picked up the dog Saturday morning along a gravel road about .75 miles from where Luft was found, Tecklenburg said.
When Luft never returned to the lodge used by the Central Iowa Coon Hunters Association, the disappearance was reported to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office by other participants in the competition.
Coon hunters are accustomed to being in the woods at night, Tecklenburg said, and he understands how Luft’s disappearance was originally unnoticed by other hunters. But, the significant time gap between when Luft was last seen and when he was reported missing was problematic, he said.
“One of the problems with this situation…was that he was not reported missing until nearly 12 hours later,” he said. “I just don’t think it became apparent that he was not accounted for immediately.”
In coon hunting, Bingham said, hunters don’t often get lost. But, when they do, it’s not uncommon for them to wait until daylight to find their way out of the woods, he said.
While he knew Luft was missing sometime around 5:30 a.m., he wasn’t immediately concerned, Bingham said. He and his son and another friend searched for Luft themselves until around 12:30 p.m., when they decided to call law enforcement, he said.
“In this sport, you know, if somebody does get lost, it’s not uncommon for them to walk out in daylight,” he said. “It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, nobody is really worried about it.”
Around 100 emergency responders and volunteers searched both land and water through the afternoon and evening on Saturday using boats, horses, all-terrain vehicles, search dogs and a Mercy Air One helicopter from Des Moines.
While searchers walked the banks of the Iowa River and searched from boats, nobody during the Saturday search covered the ground where Luft was eventually found, Tecklenburg said. Officials called off the search for the day around dusk, he said.
The first instinct of law enforcement officials was that Luft may have disappeared into the Iowa River, Tecklenberg said. When coon hunting, it would be common to cross at shallow points throughout the night, he said.
“These guys, as a matter of practice, may have crossed that river six or seven times apiece,” he said. “You’re going to think that the river could be involved somehow.”
The area where Luft was found was 1.5 miles northwest of the unincorporated community of Quarry. Retrieving his body was slowed by thick brush and downed trees, but officials finished the recovery around 2 a.m. Sunday.
The cause of Luft’s death is still unknown, and the Marshall County Medical Examiner and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident.
The Tama Fire Department, Marshalltown Fire Department, Marshall County Emergency Management, K-9 Connection and numerous volunteers assisted the sheriff’s office with the search.
Several of the volunteers who helped search were local and visiting coon hunters.