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Autopsy today should identify drowning victim

By Barb Ickes


An autopsy scheduled for this afternoon on human remains found Thursday in the Green River near Geneseo, Ill., is expected to
confirm whether the body is that of missing East Moline woman Jone Knapton.

A passerby spotted what has been described as a torso in the water beneath a bridge.

Bob Egert, who has lived on his small farm in the area for about 18 years, said he was escorting a television news photographer
through his property Thursday when he discovered another body part in the water.

Egert said he initially

became aware that police were searching for someone or something when he and his wife turned on their police radio scanner Thursday
afternoon.

Police have asked Egert not to identify the body part he discovered, he said, because that could interfere with what might become a
murder investigation.

"This, to me, didn't appear to be an accident," he said of the evidence he encountered.

Police have not officially connected the possibly dismembered body that was found Thursday and the Knapton disappearance. The
46-year-old mother last was heard from July 4. She was employed at Kone Inc. in Moline.

Henry County Sheriff Gilbert "Gib" Cady said 20 to 30 officers and members of the search-and-rescue team along with four dogs
scoured the banks of the Green River all day Friday searching for a crime scene, but found nothing.

Rock Island County Circuit Court records show divorce proceedings in the marriage of Jone and Larry Knapton, 48, were filed April
18. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12.

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or .