Remains Identified as Missing 'Small-Town' Man with 'Goodness in Him' & a 'Battle that Defined Far too Much of His Story'

Human remains found in Iowa have been positively identified as a beloved “small-town” man who is remembered by family and friends as someone whose life “includes more than his worst chapters.”

A February 5 press release shared with Just Jared by the Clinton Police Department stated that the remains had been found “in a wooded area near railroad tracks” on December 31, 2025.

When responding to a call, “officers located an area that had a previous fire. While checking the area of the fire officers located an unidentified type of skeletal remains,” the release read, noting that they were sent out for examination.

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“The Iowa State Medical Examiner’s office has identified the remains as Cody M. French,” the release read. French was 36 at the time of his death.

An investigation into French‘s death is still ongoing, but the release stated that “authorities do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the public.”

A since-deleted entry in the Iowa Missing Person Information Clearing House reported that French was last seen on November 16, 2025.

In an obituary shared by his family, French was remembered as someone who “loved art” and who “grew up with the kind of small-town life that shaped him.”

His family and friends will “remember the boy who loved the outdoors, the young man who could light up with a pencil in his hand, the soldier who finished basic training, and the human being who—beneath the struggle — still had goodness in him.”

However, they wrote that he “began experimenting with drugs” as a teen, saying that, “Over time addiction became the battle that defined far too much of his story.”

“But addiction does not fight fair, and despite many attempts, many hopes, and many promises that everyone wanted to believe, it pulled him away from stability and eventually into homelessness,” his family said, noting that even then he was surrounded by a community.

His death was described as “a tragedy” and “a painful reminder of how brutal addiction can be — especially for those who feel trapped inside it.”

“Cody was not a bad person. He was a person who got caught in a bad situation with a powerful demon he could not outrun. If you are reading this and you are fighting addiction, or you love someone who is, Cody’s family hopes you will let his story push you toward help — real help — and toward one more attempt, one more call, one more day. Your life still matters,” they wrote.

Importantly, his family wrote, “Cody was loved. Cody mattered. And Cody’s story includes more than his worst chapters.”