Body found in Tuscarawas County identified as missing Canton-area woman
Investigators have identified a body found by a passerby in northern Tuscarawas County nearly a month ago as Katie Ann Fuller, a 27-year-old Canton-area woman who was reported missing in September.
The Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office said Friday that test results of DNA extracted from the body by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that it was Fuller.
Authorities did not find signs of trauma to the body and are awaiting forensic testing and toxicology results from a laboratory to help determine the cause of death.
Her family had reported Fuller, who had two children, missing to Canton police on Sept. 12. Fuller's mother said she last got a text message from her daughter on Sept. 7. She lived at times at a motel in Jackson Township and with a man on McKinley Avenue SW who said Fuller did not drive to a grocery store as planned on Sept. 9, police said.
"Her family describes that she was known to struggle with substance abuse," the Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "Our thoughts go out to Katie's family who have been notified and are very helpful and cooperative."
According to a Facebook post by the Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office and the Tuscarawas County coroner's office, a man was on a hike searching for deer on Nov. 4 on North Orchard Road near Dover-Zoar Road in Sandy Township. He called 911 and reported he had found a body. The body, which had significantly decomposed and was partially a skeleton, was lying "over an embankment off the side of the road."
The location is four miles east of Bolivar.
Investigators found the deceased woman was wearing sweatpants, black shoes and a light-colored shirt.
The Sheriff's Office said it's working with law enforcement in Stark County to try to determine what caused Fuller's death.
Related: Canton police searching for mother who's been missing for 3 weeks
The Tuscarawas County Coroner's Office said Waltner-Simchak Funeral Home in Canton is handling arrangements.
The Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information related to Fuller's death to contact Capt. Adam Fisher of the detective bureau at 330-339-2000.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly known as Twitter: @rwangREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Tuscarawas officials say body identified as Katie Ann Fuller of Canton
