COOPERSVILLE, Mich. — The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office confirmed Thursday afternoon that the body found Wednesday was the missing 28-year-old man, Erik Johnson.
He had been missing for more than two weeks.
Capt. Jake Sparks says he doesn't believe there is any foul play in this case.
"It had a tragic end ending, but it can definitely provide some closure for the town and the family as well. And we're grateful for everybody's efforts," he says.
An autopsy completed Thursday morning confirmed the identity. Construction workers could see Johnson's body underground from a manhole cover at a construction site off Center Street and Sunset Street in Coopersville.
"It was a difficult scene because it was difficult to access the body which was in a storm sewer drainage pipe," Capt. Sparks says.
The discovery of Johnson's body comes more than two weeks after he was reported missing. He was last seen in a doorbell camera video off Danforth Street and Ottawa Street in the early morning hours on August 14th.
Police believe he was disoriented at the time.
"I believe he crawled in to that space voluntarily. We know that the night that he went missing missing there were storms and heavy rains in the area, so possibly he was trying to seek shelter," Capt. Sparks says.
He says that's likely why search efforts to find Johnson were unsuccessful. The sheriff's office searched several times, on foot and using drones and K-9 units.
Family also coordinated multiple search efforts since August 14th.
"I think his final place that we found them speaks to why we couldn't find him in some of the earlier manual and aerial searches, and even the canines. Initially, he was a long way back up into that drain pipe, would have been impossible to see from the naked eye from any of the areas that we were searching," Capt. Sparks says.
Toxicology results in the autopsy are still pending, and that will determine an exact cause and manner of death.
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