Update: Body Found After Suspicious Fire Identified as Missing Minnesota Man

Hastings, MN (KROC-AM News)- Authorities have identified a body found in a ditch earlier this month as a missing Minnesota man. 

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The Hastings Police Department responded to the report of a body discovery on the morning of February 2.

On Thursday morning, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension canceled a statewide missing person alert issued for the man on February 1. 

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Police confirmed the person found was deceased upon arriving at the scene about 150 feet east of a Vermillion River crossing in the 1300 block of 10th St. 

Preliminary information indicated the body discovery may have been connected to a fire that occurred at a rural property north of Hastings earlier that morning. 

The statewide missing person alert said 74-year-old William Michael Eickholt had vanished from the scene of the February 2 fire at his own property. 

Body Found on Morning of Suspicious Hastings, MN-Area Fire Identified as Missing Man

Authorities suspected him of being injured. Investigators also described the fire as suspicious. 

On Thursday, the Minnesota BCA said the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the body found in Hastings as Eickholt. A cause and manner of death are not available. 

At the time of the body discovery, Hastings police requested anyone who may have seen a vehicle stopped on the side of the road in the area of the body discovery between 1 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday to contact the Hastings Police Department or Washington County Sheriff’s Office.