Body found in river was missing snowmobiler

WOODBURY, Minn. -- Washington County authorities on Monday identified the remains of a dead body found in the St. Croix River as a missing Cottage Grove native.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office positively identified the remains as belonging to Timothy Michael Pease, a 2000 Park High graduate who went missing in February 2010 while snowmobiling on the St. Croix River.

According to a Washington County Sheriff's Office news release, Pease likely drowned after falling through the ice.

Authorities received a call at 11:56 a.m. Sunday near Afton for a possible body in the water.

Deputies from Washington County and St. Croix County, Wis., responded and found the body in the water. The remains had been in the water "for a long period of time," the release states, adding that it was in a serious state of decomposition.