Chippewa County coroner officially ID's body as missing woman

Oct. 4—CHIPPEWA FALLS — The Chippewa County Sheriff's Department announced Monday it has positively identified the body of a woman found deceased in the town of Wheaton in October as a person missing from the Lake Delton area.

Through a DNA profile, the woman has been identified as Rosaly Cindy Chavarria Rodriguez, who was 25 at the time she went missing in July 2020.

"Rodriguez was a Peruvian national working in the Wisconsin Dells area and was documented by the Reedsburg Police Department as a missing person in July of 2020," Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk wrote in a press release Monday. "The Reedsburg Police Department and the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office are actively investigating the death of Rodriguez. There is a person of interest in the case and additional information will follow at a later date."

Kowalczyk said they were able to track down Rodriguez's father in Peru.

"DNA was an issue at first, because of the distance," Kowalczyk said.

A crime lab in Texas officially released the results to Kowalczyk last week, saying the DNA profiles fit Rodriguez. Kowalczyk said his office is relieved to have the results.

On Oct. 14, 2020, the unknown woman's body was found in an abandoned farmhouse in the town of Wheaton, stuffed inside a purple suitcase. While she wasn't identified, police suspected it was Rodriguez. The deceased body was was wearing black stretch pants and a black T-shirt that read "Sprecher's Restaurant and Pub," which is located in Wisconsin Dells.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is a national information resource center, funded and operated by the National Institute of Justice. The organization opened a file on the Chippewa Valley homicide case last fall. Their report indicated the victim's name was likely "Rosaly" and she had long black hair. A contact lens was found among the remains, the website states.

The Lake Delton Police Department issued a missing person's notification Sept. 7, 2020, saying Rodriguez was last seen July 4. Her ex-husband reported her missing on July 21. Lake Delton is adjacent to Wisconsin Dells.

Her body was found on a vacant farm between 20th Avenue and 30th Avenue, along the Highway T corridor, south of 29 Pines. Officers learned of the body being at the farm during a drug investigation, when an informant told them about it. Police arrived at the farmhouse and located it. The body was heavily decomposed.

"The problem with this is we still don't know where she was killed; we don't know where the homicide took place," Kowalczyk said.

Kowalczyk reiterated there is no danger to the public in western Wisconsin, saying the suspect was last seen in southern states.

"We're working very closely with Reedsburg and the Wisconsin Crime Lab to put a closure to this," he said.