Death of Sac County truck driver ruled an accident

David Schultz, the previously missing trucker from Sac County, died in an accident from hypothermia and drug poisoning, according to a death certificate from the Iowa State Medical Examiner.

Dr. Kelly Kruse, a state medical examiner, identified Schultz’s cause of death as an accident. The immediate cause of death, she reported, was “hypothermia secondary to acute drug (methamphetamine) intoxication.” Schultz’s death, according to the death certificate, was caused by “the ingestion of the drug and exposure to cold.”

Schultz, a married father of 10-year-old twins, disappeared on the morning of November 21, 2023. His wife, Sarah Schultz, reported him missing. She said in November that her husband did not use drugs.

Schultz’s red and white Peterbilt semi-truck was discovered parked in the northbound lane of County Road N14 that afternoon, with pigs still inside his trailer. Schultz’s wallet and phone were found in the semi-truck, but his jacket was scattered in a nearby ditch.

Police searched the area first, then more than 250 volunteers joined the search effort. Dogs, planes with thermal imaging cameras and dozens of family and friends combed the corn-strewn area. But no one found Schultz’s body until April. A hired man found the body in a field less than a mile from where Schultz’s truck had been parked when he disappeared.

The night before Schultz was reported missing, temperatures dropped to -1 degrees Celsius. Over the next week, lows reached as low as -11 degrees Celsius.

A state criminal investigation official told the Sioux City Journal that the agency considers the Schultz case closed.

On Tuesday, Iowa DCI Special Agent Darrell Simmons told the Sioux City Journal that the 53-year-old’s death was not a homicide. “There really is no threat or concern to the community,” he said.

The Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office did not immediately respond to a call from the Storm Lake Times Pilot on Friday.