Jon Lacina’s body identified by medical examiner

An officer parks at the head of the driveway going into the old Dairy Farm Thursday April 15, 2010 where an ISU officer discovered the body of missing student Jon Lacina on Wednesday April 14, 2010 at approximately 8:30 p.m. No official cause of death has been released. Photo: Rashah McChesney/Iowa State Daily

The body discovered Wednesday has been identified as missing ISU student Jon Lacina by the state medical examiner.

His father, Tom Lacina, said the family was still awaiting the results from the medical examiner’s office Thursday afternoon, but notified the Daily that the body is in fact his son’s minutes ago.

“We’re really relying on the medical examiner to do the final identification,” Tom had said.

Joe Lacina, Jon’s brother, said Thursday that his family had been informed of the identity of the body. ISU police and the university news service said earlier they could not confirm the identification because the state medical examiner has yet to confirm the body’s identity. An official statement came from the news service and the ISU police late this afternoon that the body is in fact Jon’s.

Joe said Thursday afternoon the body found at the

Dairy Pavilion

south of campus was his brother’s. After nearly three months, an ISU police officer found the body while searching the brick building at around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The officer was examining remote areas of a property south of campus, southwest of the intersection of Mortensen Road and Hayward Avenue. The site is approximately one mile south of Central Campus.

Lacina was last seen Jan. 22 leaving 300 Stanton Ave. at approximately 9:30 p.m. His father, Tom, reported him missing to ISU Police Jan. 31.

Law enforcement continued daily searches and investigative efforts throughout the last three months, including extensive searches of snow piles and Lake LaVerne.

Find updates to this story here throughout the day, as they become available.

Map: Intersection of Mortensen Road and Hayward Ave., where the body of a deceased male was discovered Wednesday night.

View Tracking Jon Lacina in a larger map