The Olathe Police Department has tentatively identified the body of a Pittsburg State University student who has been missing since Aug. 5.
Terri Staton, dispatcher with the Linn County Sheriff’s Department also confirmed Saturday that the body of Joshua Hancock, 21, in Johnson County.
She also confirmed that he was found in his vehicle, a 1990 Lincoln Town Car.
Hancock was last seen on Aug. 5 at JR’s Place, a bar/nightclub at the Great Mall of the Great Plains in Olathe.
Hancock is from Parker, a town in Linn County.
Hancock was scheduled to go to boot camp as a member of the Kansas National Guard, based out of Pittsburg.
He did not show up for his drill weekend last weekend.
Pittsburg State officials described Hancock as a psychology sophomore who was anticipated to graduate in 2012.
He had not enrolled in fall classes.
Officials with the Olathe Police Department said in a release that officers were dispatched to an area around 151st Street and South Lone Elm Road on Friday evening after receiving a call that the car associated with Hancock had been found.
Olathe Police said that the car had left the roadway and came to rest in a tree area, 60 feet away. Authorities tentatively identified the body as that of Hancock, but officials said they are awaiting the official cause of death, pending an autopsy.
Staton said that neither the Linn County Sheriff’s Department nor the Olathe Police were treating the incident as a homicide at this point.
Presently, members of the Olathe Police Department Traffic Unit and Investigation Division are investigating the incident. A search organized for Saturday was canceled.
