“We’ve got the remains of the young man identified as Jacob Henningsen,” said Madison County Sheriff’s Department Investigator, Jon Downey.

Remains from a human body were found in Madison county just outside of Norfolk, Nebraska in February of this year. Madison County Sheriff’s Department was able to send the remains to a lab and is now receiving more information about the identity in question. Investigator Jon Downey applied for the case to be sent to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. From there the center was able to determine the body was that of 24-year-old Jacob Henningsen.

Investigators say Henningsen’s body was found near an area between Meadow Grove and Tilden, and was just 100 yards away from Highway 275.

Downey and his team of investigators are now trying to fill in the blanks as to what happened. Downey says there is no reason to suspect foul play, but are looking into Henningsen’s psychological past.

“With his personal issues that he was having, it’s unfortunate, but we can kind of come up with an idea of what happened to him. It’s not criminal, it’s just sometimes that’s what happens when people fall of the [face of the earth] like Jacob did,” says Downey.

Although it took nearly 5 months for the sheriff’s department to identify the remains, Downey says that’s normal.

“It’s pretty average, it actually ended up quicker than I thought it was going to.”

He heavily credits NAMUS , a federal funded center, for its systems. He says without them, he’s not sure if this case of a missing person would have ever been solved.