The Johnson County Coroner’s Office has released the name of the man whose body was found outside a Whiteland motel Tuesday.
The body of Dennis Ryan Brown, 39, of Whiteland, was found by a local resident around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in a field near the Wishing Well Motel, 511 South U.S. Highway 31, in Whiteland. Brown had last been seen Friday in the area where his body was found, according to a Johnson County Coroner’s Office news release.
An autopsy was completed Wednesday morning showed no signs of foul play in Brown’s death. A final ruling on his cause of death is pending toxicology results, which could take up to three weeks, said Mike Pruitt, Johnson County Coroner.
The man’s identity was initally unknown to both the coroner’s office and the Whiteland Police Department. The coroner’s office posted on social media asking the public to help identify the man on Tuesday morning. By mid-afternoon, authorities had received “multiple solid tips” on the man’s identity, however, the condition of the body did not allow for a positive visual ID, officials said.
By Tuesday evening though, the coroner’s office was able to identify the man through fingerprints and was able to notify his family, Pruitt said.
