UPDATE 5:08 PM: According to Cpt. Brian Shea of the Saline County Sheriff’s Department, the body found yesterday at 228 W Falun Rd, in Saline County, has been positively identified as 42-year-old Samuel (Joe) Joseph Koch.

The autopsy has also confirmed that the death was a suicide.

UPDATE: The Saline County Sheriff’s Office is waiting for results to make a positive identification on the body of a man found inside a running pickup in a shed at a residence just west of Assaria Wednesday afternoon.

Sheriff Glen Kochanowski says deputies were sent to 228 W. Falun Road, the home of former Saline County Emergency Management Director Joe Koch, at around 1:00pm Wednesday to do a welfare check because Koch had not been heard from or seen since Monday.

The body was found in the detached shed in a pickup. Also in the shed were a tractor and a deer carcass.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death, but it appears to be a case of suicide.

We will update this story as soon as more information is released.