Jay County body likely missing woman
Police believe the search for a missing Dunkirk woman has come to a tragic end.
Authorities said Tuesday that human remains found in a rural area of Jay County on Monday are likely those of Brianna DiBattiste, a 25-year-old Dunkirk woman missing since June 16.
"Investigators have preliminarily identified the body as Ms. DiBattiste," Jay County Prosecutor Wes Schemenaur said in a statement released early Tuesday evening. "A DNA test will be performed in order to confirm the identity."
Jay County Coroner Jason White confirmed to The Star Press that a body had been found Monday on the property of the Jay County Conservation Club in the southwest part of the county.
Schemenaur said in a Tuesday evening press release that investigators "believe the remains to be that of Brianna DiBattiste."
Albany Police Chief Shannon Henry told The Star Press that he spoke with DiBattiste's mother late Tuesday afternoon. Henry, who has led the investigation into DiBattiste's disappearance, said he told Julie Hunt that positive identification was not yet possible.
Schemenaur said test results might not be known for several weeks. An autopsy will be conducted Wednesday.
A team of forensic pathologists from the University of Indianapolis recovered the body, which White said had not been buried.
Since DiBattiste was last seen by her mother on June 16, the multi-department investigation has consisted of dozens of interviews and searches ranging from rural areas to locations in Muncie to Dayton, Ohio.
The searches – many of them sparked by convicted felon Curtis Ray Neal – were fruitless.
Neal, a seven-time felon from Dunkirk, faces drug-related charges in Jay County. His claims of knowledge about DiBattiste's fate prompted mid-August searches of a near-downtown apartment in Muncie and a nature preserve near Upland. More recently his tips sent investigators to rural areas of Henry County.
Neal, charged with obstruction of justice and false informing in Delaware County for prompting the searches in mid-August, appeared at an initial hearing on those charges Tuesday morning. DiBattiste's mother, in tears, was in the courtroom gallery.
In the end, however, it was apparently not a tip from a prisoner or information from a well-meaning friend of DiBattiste's family or a revelation prompted by one of the countless flyers with DiBattiste's picture posted around this part of the state. If the remains found Monday are those of DiBattiste, the discovery perhaps can be attributed to happenstance.
Schemenaur's statement noted that the remains were located by members of the Jay County Conservation Club in a wooded area off Jay County Road 650-S. The body was badly decomposed, the prosecutor said.
Because DiBattiste's mother said her daughter was a heroin user, authorities had considered the possibility that the young woman had died from an overdose in the company of other users, who then disposed of her body.
The discredited Neal had told authorities that he had disposed of her body but had given several different and conflicting locations where that occurred.
EARLIER STORIES:
Aug. 13: Search continues for missing woman; family increases reward
Aug. 14: Police search downtown Muncie house
Aug. 14: Search for DiBattiste takes police to Upland area
Aug. 15: Man accused of leading police on "goose chase"
Aug. 26: Missing woman: Serial killer or coincidence?
Aug. 28: Man who sparked searches tell police DiBattiste is dead
Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Twitter: @keithroysdon. Contact Douglas Walker at 765-213-5851 and follow him on Twitter: @DouglasWalkerTSP.