Human remains found in southeast Iowa

IOWA CITY, IOWA (KCCI-TV) — The Mount Pleasant police chief says investigators are looking into whether human remains discovered in a rural ditch are those of one of two missing women.

Investigators said Monday a human skull and other remains were discovered Saturday evening by children riding their bikes between Lockridge and Rome, about 10 miles west of Mount Pleasant.

Police Chief Terry Sammons said the remains have been transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy. He says he’s hoping to learn whether the remains are those of 24-year-old Jackie Leigh Douthart, who disappeared last May; or Elizabeth Syperda, who vanished in 2000 at age 22.

A 24-year-old man who was a “person of interest” in Douthart’s disappearance committed suicide in July during a standoff with police in western Illinois.