How horrible...."we have to contain our community healthy and safe"....but we allow a chemical dumpsite where the so called "lost people of our society" can live, as long as there are no complaints. In what a mad world we are living, besides the sad fact a homicide occurred and this UID found.
Police contacted the Polk County Medical Examiner's Office to assist with the investigation, along with two forensic anthropologists. A forensic excavation of the scene is being conducted.
Parizek said "a lot" of evidence had been found; he declined to elaborate.
Police believe the body had been in the woods for months, however the cause of death, along with the identity of the body, is not yet known.
Iowa's Missing Person Information Clearinghouse has nearly 80 entries for people reported missing in Des Moines as of Wednesday afternoon.
"This is one of the most complex and complicated crime scenes I've seen," Parizek said, citing the size of the scene, the duration in which the body apparently had been undisturbed, the timing of the tip, and the environmental challenges.
An Iowa Task Force One cadaver dog and two forensic anthologists assisted Des Moines Police Crime Scene Investigations Unit and the Polk County Medical Examiner's Office at the scene, according to a Des Moines police Facebook Post.
"To keep our community safe and healthy, we must be careful not to enable dangerous lifestyles, and to not abandon those in need of critical services," the post read. "Fortunately, Des Moines is served by committed, compassionate professionals who don't care if you live in a tent or a townhouse."
The Dico Inc. property, a closed manufacturing plant on the southwest side of downtown, has sat empty for two decades. The site, which is on city property on the east bank of the Raccoon River, is geographically isolated, and has attracted squatters over the years.
"The people who camp there change often," Parizek said, although he was unsure when the camp was last cleared.
The homeless have long set up camps among the wooded greenways that flank the city's rivers. It’s not legal, but the city typically only takes action when it receives complaints.
Decisions about which camps the city decides to target — and when — are driven by complaints, officials have said. The city often cites safety concerns, such as the dangers of portable heaters.
A different homeless camp about half a mile west was the site last month where a Des Moines police officer shot and injured a wanted man who had threatened police with a knife.
Some city officials have pushed to revitalize the Dico site, but it won't be easy: the 38-acre property is contaminated by chemical leaks and carcinogenic building materials, and is therefore listed as one of the nation's most toxic waste sites.
