MAHASKA COUNTY — At approximately 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a subject that was deer hunting.

The subject reported finding a body located in a small wooded area north of Oskaloosa. The body, which is unidentifiable at this point, was transported to the Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office in Des Moines.

This case is being investigated by the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office, Oskaloosa Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

As a reminder, local resident, Jeffrey Allen VerSteegh, 34, has been missing since the morning of July 28. VerSteegh last spoke with his mother Lorraine Grace, who became increasingly worried about her son after not hearing from him for some time.

In the weeks after VerSteegh’s  disappearance, Grace said she believed her son was in Ottumwa taking welding classes at Indian Hills Community College, but as time went on she began to think otherwise.

“For awhile I thought he went down there with a friend, but I had to find his friend to clarify that was not true,” said Grace in a September interview with The Herald. “He was on foot and had no other transportation. He had no money, left all his clothes, and he has a food  stamp card, but since the police department checked it out, we found out he hasn’t been using it. So I don’t know how he’s been surviving if he’s out there somewhere.”

As of press time, local law enforcement had not released any information regarding the identity of the body.

Story provided by Danielle Lunsford