Remains of missing man identified

Staff report

MERCER, PA.

A body found earlier this month in a wooded area of East Lackawannock Township has been positively identified by the Mercer County Coroner’s office as that of Donald Lee Mariacher, 80, who had been missing since July.

The coroner has ruled the death accidental and said the cause was environmental exposure.

Mariacher, who was known to suffer from high blood pressure, was last seen around 11 a.m. July 13 by a neighbor who saw him walking alongside Route 19 (Perry Highway) toward Interstate 80.

A search was launched shortly thereafter by the Pennsylvania State Police, with the help of personnel from numerous volunteer fire departments, local police- dog units and the Northwest Pennsylvania Search and Rescue dog team.

When those efforts failed, Mariacher’s name eventually was loaded into the National Crime Information Center’s data bank as “missing person/endangered.”

On Dec. 1, a hunter stumbled across what would be identified as Mariacher’s remains only three-quarters of a mile east of his Perry Highway home.