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Firearms search in New Sharon initially considered as link to Xavior Harrelson case
ATF official says this was separate case of firearms violation
Trish Mehaffey
Oct. 19, 2021 6:27 pm
Federal agents conducted a search in New Sharon on Tuesday in a firearms investigation, but the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assisted in case there was a connection to the Xavior Harrelson death investigation.
The search warrant was obtained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for a property in the 100 block of South Elm in New Sharon in connection with a firearms violation case, John Ham, spokesperson in the Kansas City Office, said Tuesday. The firearms investigation is separate from the Harrelson case, in which the bureau isnāt involved, he added.
Ham said he could not provide information on who owned the property or who was being investigated.
āDCI assisted in the search in the event that it may be connected (to Harrelson), just because of the proximity,ā Assistant DCI Director Mitch Mortvedt said.
New Sharon is about 13 miles from Montezuma, where the boy lived.
Mortvedt didnāt confirm if anyone connected to this property or the search was associated with Harrelson.
Mahaska County Sheriff Russell Van Renterghem said his office assisted in the federal search, along with Poweshiek County Sheriffās Office and New Sharon Police Department.
On Friday, nearly five months after the 11-year-old was reported missing from a Montezuma mobile home park where he lived with his mother, authorities confirmed that human remains found in a nearby farm field were of the boy.
āThe cause of death has not been released at this time,ā Poweshiek County Sheriff Thomas Kriegel said in a statement.
The boy was reported missing May 27, just before his 11th birthday. Posters with Xaviorās picture plastered the town, and a reward fund raised about $35,000, but massive searches failed to locate him.
Then on Sept. 30, a farmer reported to authorities that remains had been spotted in a soybean field about 3 miles northwest of town. Investigators at the time said clothing found with the remains was consistent with what the boy was last seen wearing, but that the state medical examiner would need to confirm the bodyās identity.
The Poweshiek County Sheriffās Office, in the statement, said it was notified by the Iowa State Medical Examinerās Office that the human remains have been āpositively identifiedā as those of Xavior Harrelson.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com