Ilonka Knes, 82, identified as body of woman found in Hurricane Ian

FORT MYERS, Fla. — More than four months after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc over Florida, the remains of a body found buried deep inside the mangroves of Fort Myers Beach have been identified as belonging to a person who perished as a result of the storm. Dental records were used by the police after the body was discovered on Tuesday to positively identify the deceased individual as Ilonka Knes, who was 82 years old. The residents of Knes’s neighborhood reported that they hadn’t seen her since the hurricane struck.

Official statement

According to reports, Knes lived just a few minutes’ walk away from the location where her body was discovered. Thomas Vasquez, a local citizen, was quoted as saying to the media source that it “cannot be an easy task” to try to locate everyone who was affected by the storm. The elderly woman had a wellness check requested for her on October 7th, which is two months ago. Deputies from Lee County and their partners from other agencies responded to the call, but they were unable to locate the missing person despite their efforts. On October 15, eight days after she was reported missing, an official missing person report was filed for her after numerous unsuccessful attempts to locate her.

Hurricane Ian was responsible for the deaths of at least 148 individuals

According to the site, the skeletal remains of Knes were discovered on Tropical Shores Way on Fort Myers Beach by a debris cleaning business that had been paid to do the job. During a press conference held on Thursday, Sheriff Carmine Marceno stated that the areas are inaccessible by boat and cannot be seen from the air. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office was contacted as soon as the remains were discovered and they began their investigation at that time.

Knes was one of the two people who were still reported to be missing from Ian, according to NBC2’s report. According to the findings of the coroner’s office, the decedent died as a result of unintentional drowning. Hurricane Ian was responsible for the deaths of at least 148 individuals in the state of Florida. According to the information presented on the website, the hurricane that occurred in late September was one of the hurricanes that caused the most fatalities to occur in the United States throughout the course of the previous 20 years.

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