Sheriff: Woman Reported Missing Found Dead In Drainage Ditch

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Authorities are investigating after a woman reported missing in central Minnesota on Monday was later found dead in a drainage ditch.

The Meeker County Sheriff's Office responded at about 4:45 p.m. to a report of a missing person. Officers were called to the 31600 block of 518th Avenue in Swede Grove Township, which is just west of Litchfield.

Grove City Fire and Rescue and Atwater Rescue were called to the scene to assist sheriff's deputies in a search for the woman. At about 8:10 p.m., authorities discovered the body of a 39-year-old woman in a drainage ditch about 1/3 of a mile west of the residence.

The body has been sent to the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office for a positive identification and cause of death. The Meeker County Sheriff's Office said the events leading up to the woman's death remain under investigation.