Camdenton, MO. – The remains of a Licking man that has been missing since 2016 were identified over the Independence Day weekend.
Gary Kaeter, age 62 of Licking, Mo., had been missing since May 30, 2016. His vehicle had been located on State Road Y in Linn Creek in June of 2016 but there was no evidence to Kaeter’s location or evidence of suspicious activity.
In October of 2021, two local residents hunting for arrowheads in the area, observed what they thought to be human remains at the bottom of a steep ravine, under a rock crevice. Deputies with the Camden County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene and recovered skeletal human remains and tattered clothing.
Detectives coordinated with members of the San Diego, California Police Department to collect a DNA sample from one of Kaeter’s close family members. An independent forensics laboratory in Lorton, Virginia analyzed the DNA sample provided by the San Diego Police against a known sample taken from the skeletal remains recovered in Linn Creek. The results positively identify the remains as belonging to Gary Kaeter.
