The Associated Press is reporting that a body of a female was found Saturday in a forest only a few miles from a missing Hot Springs, Arkansas police dispatcher’s home. Foul play is suspected.
Authorities are working to identify the body, but the missing woman’s family is almost certain it is her. 46-year old Dawna Natzke was last seen leaving a Christmas party with her 28-year old boyfriend, Kevin Duck, on December 21, 2011. Duck reportedly told detectives that the two of them returned home to Hot Springs Village that night and that Natzke was gone when he woke up the next morning. She was reported missing after she failed to show up for work on December 23, 2011.
Security cameras are positioned at each of the central Arkansas town’s entrances, but there is no video footage that recorded her leaving Hot Springs Village.
A volunteer search crew found the body in a remote part of Ouachita National Forest, where Natzke’s burned out station wagon was found.
Authorities wouldn’t describe the condition of the body, but Martin said foul play is suspected in the death. Crime scene tape stretched across pine trees blocked access to the area, including a pond.
Natzke recently separated from her husband, but no suspects or persons of interest have been named in the case.
