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Reward offered for missing Wall Lake man

$2,000 offered for information regarding his whereabouts

WALL LAKE — A month after he disappeared, there’s still almost no trace of a Wall Lake man who went missing while hauling hogs from Eagle Grove to Sac City on Nov. 21.

David Schultz, 53, was reported missing after his wife, Sarah Schultz, was notified that her husband never arrived in Sac City with the load, even though it was picked up in Eagle Grove the night before. Soon after, a massive search effort was underway. More than 100,000 acres have been searched for the missing man.

David Schultz is described as a 53-year-old white male, approximately 5-foot-11-inches and 180 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He was last known to be wearing Wrangler blue jeans, cowboy boots and a Peterbilt hat.

On Tuesday, the Sac County Sheriff’s Office announced on its Facebook page that a $2,000 reward has been offered for information on his disappearance or whereabouts. According to the post, the Sac County Crime Stoppers was re-organized last week and has begun fundraising for its reward fund. Donations to the Sac County Crime Stoppers reward fund can be made at the Iowa State Bank locations in Sac City, Odebolt and Lake View.

Anyone with information can contact the Sac County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 662-7127 or the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (712) 262-1873.

David Schultz was last seen by his family on the evening of Nov. 20, when he left for Eagle Grove to pick up the load of pigs and transport them to Weickman’s hog buying station in Sac City. According to the Sac County Sheriff’s Office, detectives were able to locate the hog confinement where Schultz made the pick up and learned that he had been late to arrive on Nov. 20 and was the last truck loaded, leaving the site at 10:50 p.m.

During the investigation, video footage was found that shows Schultz at the Marker 126 travel center on U.S. Highway 20 east of Fort Dodge at 11:15 p.m. He was there for 16 minutes before leaving, and was seen on an Iowa Department of Transportation camera on U.S. Highway 20 heading west.

Schultz’s cell phone data shows he arrived at the junction of Highway 20 and Highway 71 at 12:18 a.m. and began heading north, according to the Sac County Sheriff’s Office. Around 3 p.m. on Nov. 21, Schultz’s truck and trailer were found “parked on the travel portion of the road” at the intersection of 190th Street and Union Avenue, northeast of Sac City. Schultz’s cell phone data suggests the truck had been there since 12:40 a.m. that morning, Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure said in a release.

Schultz’s semi was shut off and Sac County deputies found his wallet and cell phone inside. Nothing was missing from the wallet and the load of hogs was still in the trailer.

Video surveillance from near Weickman Hog Buying station shows that Schultz never made it there for the drop-off.

The immediate area was searched on foot and with a K-9, and an Iowa State Patrol air wing unit was dispatched to use forward-looking infra-red to try to detect a heat signature that would be consistent with a person, but nothing was located. The ground search was expanded over the next two days with law enforcement, firefighters and volunteers searching on foot and with drones. The United Cajun Army, a nonprofit organization that helps with search-and-rescue operations, also joined the search, bringing even more volunteers.

As of Tuesday, Schultz remains missing.

A GoFundMe has been created to help support his wife and children during this time. To donate, visit https://gofund.me/bf0031a0.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting in the investigation.

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