Minn. remains identified as missing man

FARIBAULT, Minn., April 17 (UPI) -- Rice County, Minn., police have said they believe a decomposed body found in a shallow grave belongs to a retired principal from Faribault, Minn.

Rice County Sheriff Richard Cook said an autopsy conducted Saturday by the Ramsey County medical examiner indicate "with near certainty" that the human remains belong to Roland Burgdorf, who disappeared last May, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The body was found Friday wrapped in a sheet in a rural area of northwestern Rice County.

The autopsy indicated Burgdorf was a victim of "severe physical trauma," Cook said.

The sheriff said Patrick Forrester, who had lived with Burgdorf before his disappearance, was being questioned in the death. Forrester has been in the Blue Earth County jail in Mankato, Minn., for nearly a year on other charges. Last year, he was publicly identified by authorities as a suspect in Burgdorf's disappearance.

Burgdorf, who was 70 when he disappeared, was a teacher and principal at Washington Elementary School in Faribault for many years.