HASTINGS, Minn. — Officials said crews found a body after putting out a fire at the Jaycee Park boat landing on Saturday, July 10.
Hastings police said fire crews were dispatched to the boat landing early Saturday morning, where they found a "wooden enclosure" engulfed in flames. While first responders extinguished the fire, they found a dead body near it.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified the victim as 30-year-old Kyle David Hamilton of Hastings.
Police tell KARE 11 the cause and manner of Hamilton's death is still under investigation; however, investigators are working to dispel false rumors circulating in the community claiming the body had been dismembered. Hastings Police Chief Bryan Schafer said that is not the case, and that Hamilton's body was found burned next to the wooden enclosure.
Schafer says investigators have searched a home and alley near the Hastings Post Office on 2nd Street in connection with the case, but did not provide any further details.
Meanwhile, a makeshift memorial to Hamilton has started near the site of the fire, where flowers and other tributes have been left in his memory.
Hastings police are investigating with assistance from the Minnesota BCA and the State Fire Marshal.