County Sheriff's Department Searched for Missing Man

Although the skeletal remains found near the Blue Hill baseball field were only about five blocks from where Sidney Troxel lived at Life Quest at Belle Amis, Webster County Sheriff Troy Schmitz doesn't know what more could have been done in the search for the Mental Health care facility resident. In a news release March 5, the Nebraska State Patrol identified the remains as Sidney Troxel, who was 65 and living at the mental health center when he was reported missing by the staff of Life Quest at Belle Amis to the Webster County Sheriff's Office May 9, 2009. Troxel's decomposed body was spotted in the late afternoon on March 2 by some boys along a fence line on private property near the Blue Hill baseball field, at the north edge of town. The body had been covered by snow. "We went over it and over it and over it about what we could've done different, " Schmitz was quoted as saying by the Hastings Tribune. Even if a search grid had been set up, there's still no guarantee Troxel would have been found, Schmitz said. Webster County is 24 miles square and largely rural. Webster Co. has only six warrant officers including Schmitz. The Sheriff said it would have been like searching for a needle in a haystack. Schmitz said from his understanding, talking to the state patrol officer, Troxel may have been deceased prior to the search when he first disappeared. Due to the fact that it was skeletal remains without organs to do an autopsy, the time of death is a mystery that may never be solved. Troxel had a heart condition. Sherrif James Marr of Nucholls County said a search for missing persons typically includes outside assistance such as other area law enforcement agencies and even university forensics experts. He says if someone is missing they make a "pretty good" effort to find them. Troxel's name was entered in the Nebraska Missing Person's Clearinghouse data base. .