Human remains in Iowa positively identified as missing 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson
By Amanda Watts, CNN
Human remains found in late September near Montezuma, Iowa, have been positively identified as 11-year-old Xavior Harrelson, according to the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office.
Xavior was reported missing on May 27, less than a week after completing fourth grade. A body was found on September 30 “in a rural area approximately 3 miles northwest of Montezuma,” Sheriff Thomas Kriegel said in a statement Friday. Montezuma is nearly 60 miles east of Des Moines.
On Friday, the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office notified the sheriff “that the human remains have been positively identified as those of Xavior Harrelson,” Kriegel added.
The cause of death was not released.
The boy was reported missing shorlty after Montezuma Elementary School let out for the summer, Principal Kurt Hanna told CNN in June.
In the days before school ended, Hanna recalled, Xavior went classroom to classroom, saying goodbye to students and wishing them a good summer.
“You never think that would be one of the last times you see somebody. I’m praying it’s not,” Hanna said at the time.
Hanna said Xavior is “always wanting to make sure you’re in a good mood and having a smile on your face.”
The FBI assisted local authorities in the search for Xavior, Amy Adams, a spokeswoman for the FBI Omaha field office, had told CNN. At one point, the search for the boy drew 500 people — 375 volunteers and 125 from law enforcement.
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CNN’s Aya Elamroussi and Hannah Sarisohn contributed to this report.
