BATTLE LAKE, Minn. – A second community-led search for evidence related to the disappearance and death of 25-year-old Isadora Wengel is scheduled for Sunday, February 22, in Battle Lake, Minnesota. The search will focus on areas near Lions Park, located at 749 Lake Shore Drive, just north of downtown.
The planned search comes after nearly 100 volunteers participated in a similar effort Sunday, February 15, in Fargo, turning over collected items to police for analysis, according to organizer MaLeah Jimenez. Authorities continue to investigate the death of Wengel, whose boyfriend, 21-year-old Joshua Alexander Hite, has been charged with murder and evidence tampering.
Hite, a Battle Lake High School graduate, is being held on a $5 million cash-only bond at the Cass County Jail, according to court records. He was formally charged on February 12. Police allege Hite “heinously murdered” Wengel sometime between January 3 and January 5 at his apartment in Fargo, where she was staying.
Investigators are particularly focused on locating a large, black plastic tote with a red lid, believing it may have been used to dispose of Wengel’s remains. Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski has stated that evidence suggests “some dismemberment involved” in the case, leading investigators to search areas in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area and Otter Tail County, Minnesota, including Fergus Falls, Elizabeth and Underwood.
Wengel had been missing for 35 days before police announced they no longer believed she was alive. She was last seen on surveillance footage at a Fargo Walmart on January 3.