EDDYVILLE — Authorities have positively identified the body of a man that was recovered from the Des Moines River last week.

The Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office reports that yesterday afternoon, at around 4:15pm, they were notified by the State Medical Examiner’s Office that the body recovered from the Des Moines River on Friday was confirmed to be that of 47-year-old Waylon Straube of Eddyville.

The body was recovered on Friday afternoon roughly ¼ mile south of the Chillicothe Bridge in Wapello County. Straube went missing following a boating accident on Sunday, May 25, in which it is believed that his boat struck underwater concrete, throwing Straube and a female companion overboard. The companion, who was identified as 50-year-old Roseanna Benda of Corydon, was rescued from the water shortly after the accident by two citizen boaters.

The Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in their search for Straube over the course of the 5-day search by several agencies, including the Iowa DNR, the Mahaska County Dispatch Center, the Mahaska Health Partnership Ambulance Service, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office, the Emergency Management Agencies from ADLM and Mahaska County, the Oskaloosa Fire Department, the New Sharon Fire Department, the Ottumwa Fire Department, the Eddyville Fire Department, the Lucas County Water Rescue Team, and the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office.