Body in Monroe County identified as man who vanished 3 years ago

A body found last November near Tomah reportedly has been identified as a Sparta man who may have been dead for three years. 

The Monroe County sheriff’s office says an abandoned car helped investigators identify remains discovered in the Town of Clifton as Jose Zuniga-Jimenez, born in 1977. 

Zuniga-Jimenez was last seen in March, 2016, fleeing a house in Elroy after a domestic incident with his estranged wife.

The abandoned car, belonging to Jose’s roommate, was found in April of 2016, and apparently had been in that spot for weeks or months.

A hunter came upon skeletal remains near Tomah last fall, and police were reminded of the abandoned car that was found in the same area.

By early March of this year, DNA tests confirmed that the remains belonged to Zuniga-Jimenez.