PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. -- There were no wounds on the body as it lay face down in the water and sand on the shore of Indian Isle.
The body of 30-year-old Brian Dietrich, of rural Garnavillo, Iowa, was fully clothed when he was found on the island south of McGregor, Iowa, on Memorial Day 1994.
As the 15th anniversary of Dietrich's suspicious death nears, the Crawford County Sheriff's Department has re-opened the investigation into the death of the son of former Clayton County Sheriff Verdean Dietrich.
Brian Dietrich was reported missing by the Clayton County Sheriff's Department on Oct. 30, 1993. He was last seen walking near the bridge that connects Prairie Du Chien with Clayton County.
An Indian Isle resident discovered Dietrich's body and notified the Crawford County's Sheriff's Department. Indian Isle is a one-mile wooded island on the Mississippi River, accessible only by boat and within the jurisdiction of Crawford County.
"(The body) appeared to have been in the river for several months," Crawford County Sheriff's Department Lt. Lauren Knutson told the Telegraph Herald in a May 30, 1994, story.
Authorities did not suspect foul play.
Crawford County Sheriff Jerry Moran had contemplated re-opening Dietrich's case -- along with the death of Prairie Du Chien resident Kenneth Allington in 2005 -- since last winter, according to the La Crosse Tribune.
"We decided in February to take a hard look at them," Moran told the Tribune. The sheriff characterized both deaths as suspicious, but not homicides.
Moran was out of the office and unavailable for the TH's request for further comment Friday.
A call to Verdean Dietrich's listed phone number was not returned.
