Skeletal remains found on a farm in northern Ste. Genevieve County probably are those of Lynn Messer, a Bloomsdale woman who has been missing for more than two years, Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff Gary Stolzer.
“We believe these are the remains of Lynn Messer,” Stolzer said today (Nov. 3).
Just after 6 p.m. on Tuesday (Nov. 1), Aaron Messer, the son of Lynn Messer, discovered the skeletal remains on the south end of his family’s 260-acre farm in Bloomsdale, Stolzer said.
Aaron Messer called the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office at 6:15 p.m., and Stolzer, along with other officers, went to the farm.
“We wanted to verify that these were human remains and not animal remains, and we determined that they were human and cordoned off the area,” Stolzer said.
He then called the FBI to help process the scene. The remains were then sent to the medical examiner’s office to determine a cause of death, Stolzer said.
Lynn Messer was reported missing from her home July 8, 2014. She was 52 and the wife of a Kerry Messer, 57, a Jefferson City lobbyist and president of the Missouri Family Network.
Lynn Messer was a member of the First Baptist Church of Festus-Crystal City, and church members participated in the search after her disappearance, church spokeswoman Gail Murchison said at the time, calling her “a valued member.”
Kerry Messer, on his “Find Lynn Messer” Facebook page, said that items found among the remains show that they are most likely his wife’s.
“I have been told the remains do in fact have artificial hips (as well as eye glasses) – but it will take several days, weeks, or even up to a couple of months to confirm this is absolutely Lynn. With what I have been told, it would appear almost certainly to be her, but absolute confirmation must be established as we hold our breaths,” according to a Wednesday afternoon post on the Facebook page.
Stolzer confirmed there were artificial hips found at the scene, adding that serial numbers associated with the hips should help identify the remains “fairly quickly.”
“We believe these are the remains of Lynn Messer, but we will have to confirm that with dental records or those serial numbers before we can say for sure,” Stolzer said.
The area where the remains were found was at the far end of the property – a place that is not frequented often except for hunting, Stolzer said.
He said that the area had been searched before but searchers could have missed the body.
“It is totally possible that she could have been there since Day 1 and search teams could have missed it,” Stolzer said. “We are not dealing with an easy terrain here. It’s not like people could walk hand in hand during the search because it’s wooded.”
Law enforcement officials are now waiting for the medical examiner’s report and the cause of death.
“This is still an open investigation,” Stolzer said.