Skeletal remains identified as missing Marion man

MARION, Ind. — Officials with the Grant County Coroner’s Office have identified the skeletal remains found in Marion in late April as a man who reportedly went missing in March 2023.

According to a news release, the remains were identified as those of 35-year-old Nathaniel Allen Banter, a Marion resident. Officials said that Banter was reported missing by the Marion Police Department on March 19, 2023.

More than a year later, on April 27, 2024, the Marion Police Department, as well as the coroner’s office, investigated skeletal remains found in an abandoned structure in the 2900 block of South Adams Street. Officials said at the time that the remains were examined and officials found that “foul play was not suspected.”

The release said that a swab standard was obtained from an immediate family member and a rib bone from the skeleton was submitted to the Indiana State Police laboratory for DNA comparison. This confirmed the biological match to Banter.

Officials said that toxicology testing is pending, stressing that drug-related artifacts and paraphernalia were found in “close proximity” of the remains.

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