The Door County search for a 63-year old physician from Grand Chute, missing in the Ephraim area since June 29th , is over, but the investigation continues. The Door County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that the body recovered from a wooded area in the Town of Liberty Grove was that of Doctor Jeffrey Whiteside who was last seen near his boat slip at the marina in Ephraim. Chief Deputy Pat McCarty praised the work of the volunteers of the Headwaters Search and Rescue K9 group for discovering the remains in an uninhabited wooded area off German Road. McCarty said it was the fourth such search by the group. Near the body was a 22-caliber handgun. He said, based on clothing and personal property, all indications were that the remains were those of the missing physician. McCarty said the medical examiner will provide a positive ID, cause and manner of death. He said the landowner had searched the property previously without finding anything, but the Headwaters group decided to return to the parcel as part of an expanded search based on the area where the doctor was last seen and coordinates related to the cell tower that transmitted his last call. McCarty declined to answer questions that went beyond the scope of the recent search to find Doctor Whiteside. Later, he told WDOR’s Roger Levendusky that there wasn’t much he could say other than that the search aspect of the investigation had been concluded…
Once the remains were discovered Wednesday afternoon, the Door County Sheriff’s Department was alerted, the state crime lab contacted, the parcel cordoned off, and, the immediate area near the body evaluated. Shortly after 9:30PM, authorities left without comment. A news release on the recovery of the body of Doctor Jeffrey Whiteside was issued at 10AM Thursday.
