Body Recovered Identified As Missing Galena Woman

Authorities say that a body recovered from the Mississippi River in Missouri has been confirmed to be that of a missing woman from Galena. The Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Department days a positive identification of 57 year old Laura Kowal was made using dental records. Authorities last Sunday had issued an alert about Kowal being missing, saying she was last seen at about noon on August 7th near her residence outside of Galena. Authorities believed she drove from her residence, though her direction of travel and destination were unknown. The sheriff’s department was contacted Sunday night by the Missouri State Highway Patrol after a woman’s body was found in the river near Canton, Missouri. The woman’s physical description and other identifiers were consistent with Kowal, but a positive ID had not been made. Her vehicle also had been found in Warsaw, Illinois, about 20 miles north of Canton and more than 200 miles south of Galena.