DNA Confirms Missing Indiana Dementia Patient Found Dead Near Ditch

Werner Gadshian's niece said publicly after her uncle disappeared that he was "not the type of guy to just leave or take off walking and never come back." Seven months later, DNA testing confirmed she was right to be alarmed. The New Whiteland, Indiana man, who had dementia, was dead.

The Johnson County Coroner's Office announced March 30 that Indiana State Police Forensic Services had positively identified human remains as those of Gadshian. The remains were recovered March 6 near a drainage ditch at Swartz Crossing Boulevard and State Road 135 in Greenwood, roughly six miles from where he had last been seen alive.

The case began on Aug. 31, 2025, when Greenwood Police found Gadshian walking along U.S. 31 and returned him to his home in New Whiteland. He disappeared again shortly after. Investigators had reached a tentative identification before the DNA results came in, based on clothing and personal items recovered with the remains and body-camera footage captured the day he vanished. The state forensic lab's DNA analysis provided the definitive confirmation.

With an identification now established, the focus shifts to cause and manner of death, both of which remain under investigation. The coroner's office has engaged University of Indianapolis experts in biology and anthropology to conduct forensic analysis of the remains. Investigators have pointed to two specific complications in the case: the remote location where the body was found, and Gadshian's dementia, both of which make reconstructing a precise timeline significantly more difficult. Whether foul play was involved has not been ruled out.

The family has been notified of the DNA results. The coroner's office has asked the public for any tips or sightings connected to the period surrounding Gadshian's disappearance, and a tip line remains active as forensic work continues. For anyone with relevant information, the contact details were included in the coroner's release.

Cases involving adults with cognitive impairment occupy a particularly difficult corner of missing-person investigations. The Aug. 31 welfare check that returned Gadshian home underscores how quickly circumstances can deteriorate when there is no follow-up safety net in place. The gap between that initial contact and the March discovery of his remains is a detail the true crime community will parse carefully as the cause-of-death investigation moves forward.