Boy's Body Found Beneath Basement Floor

Boy's Body Found Beneath Basement Floor

Father Reveals Location In Court

POSTED: 6:10 am CST February 26, 2002
UPDATED: 5:38 pm CST February 26, 2002

REMSEN, Iowa -- The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and local authorities in northwest Iowa conducted a grim search early Tuesday morning in the basement of a home in Remsen.

The search followed a surprising revelation in court by Donald Boss, who was accused of killing his adopted son two years ago. Boss was having a routine bond review hearing Monday when he told the court that he knows the location of his son's body. He revealed that the body could be found under the basement floor of the family home in Remsen.

Shocked investigators went to the home Monday night and found fresh concrete. Plymouth County Sheriff Mike Van Oterloo said, "What we were told by the statement is that the spot is in the basement underneath the floor."

Reporters asked if it looked like the floor had been freshly re-done. "Yes, it does," Sheriff Van Oterloo told KCCI NewsChannel 8's Geoff Greenwood at the scene.

Investigators brought in a jackhammer to remove the floor. At about 2 a.m. Tuesday, they found human remains that are presumed to be the body of 10-year-old Timothy Boss. The remains were taken to Sioux City, Iowa, and will be brought to Des Moines, Iowa, later Tuesday for an autopsy.

Timothy Boss is thought to have been murdered about two years ago but was undetected by anybody. He was one of four special needs children adopted by Donald Boss and his wife Lisa. They had seven children of their own. Friends became suspicious when they had not seen Timothy for a while. Donald Boss fled Iowa and was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder. But the boy's body had never been found.

Monday's statement by Boss in court caught law officers off guard. "I was surprised, yes," said Sheriff Van Oterloo. "It's a surprising revelation at this time."