Investigation Of Discovered Body Continues In Brainerd

A search crew set out yesterday to look for John Greenwaldt, a missing 29-year-old Brainerd man. The search resulted in discovering a body located in a wooded area about 150 feet off of Hattie Street in Brainerd.

“At 3:30 or 4, law enforcement did a ground search with numerous officers from the Brainerd Police Department and during that time, during the ground search, the Brainerd Police Officers had located the unidentified body,” said Mike Bestul, Deputy Brainerd Police Chief.

Initial indications lead officials to believe that this is the man they were looking for, but no formal identification has been performed.

Officials are currently processing the crime scene just off the 300 block of Hattie Street. Once that investigation is complete, the body will be sent to the Ramsey Medical Examiner for identification and cause of death.

John often came to this area, but the question if foul play was involved is yet to be determined.

“At this point, we don’t know; we are continuing to work with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and still processing the scene. It is still a very active crime scene,” said Bestul.

The Enns family lives right next to the scene, and all Jamie Enns can think about while watching the investigation unfold are her 4 kids.

“I kept thinking if one of us had been out there with the kids and we had seen that body. How would they have reacted? How upsetting would it have been for these boys, I have no idea,” said Enns.

As scenarios played out in her head, nothing compared to the reality of losing a child.

“I was here when the family was over here and seeing the mom just in grief and tears. There is this sense that I am glad they finally have some answers but my heart just broke for them. I took them a box of Kleenex but I felt so helpless,” Jamie Enns said.

More answers for the family will begin to arise over the next several days as the investigation continues.