Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety report positive identification has been made on the skeletal remains discovered on October 11th along the I-480 bridge in Council Bluffs.  The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation worked in association with the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office, who used known dental records to identify the remains as 21 year old Chance Fletcher of Omaha.

Fletcher was last seen alive on December 15, 2011, by area law enforcement during the course of a police pursuit.  Fletcher was driving in a stolen car when a Carter Lake officer attempted to pull him over.  Eventually the chase ended in Council Bluffs, near the I-480 bridge, after Fletcher wrecked the car he was in and escaped on foot.  Officers with Council Bluffs Police Department, Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, and the Omaha Police Department assisted in the search for Fletcher that evening with no success.

The Omaha Police Department’s Missing Person’s Unit was investigating cold cases when they coordinated a search of the area on October 11th, with the assistance of the Council Bluffs Police Department.  The discovery of the skeletal remains were located in a drainage ditch on the south side of the I-480 bridge, an area adjacent to the location Fletcher was last seen running from almost 2 years ago.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was requested to investigate the discovery of the remains and death investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Department as local law enforcement was the last to have contact with Fletcher during the course of the pursuit and his escape that evening.  Assistance was provided by the Council Bluffs Police Department, Omaha Police Department, the Pottawattamie County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office.