LAKE MILTON — Milton Township police Chief Chuck Van Dyke said the finding of human remains in Lake Milton on Sunday is the first time since he became chief in 2015 that something like that has happened.

Van Dyke said there have been fatal accidents at the lake, but he cannot recall any situation where the body of someone believed to have been murdered somewhere else was found deposited into the lake.

A search of the lake took place Saturday to aid the Wadsworth Police Department in the investigation into the Oct. 18, 2020, death of Iron J. Cannon, 27, of Akron, Wadsworth police Chief Dan Chafin said Monday.

The Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office dive team helped in the search, sheriff’s Maj. Jeff Allen, said. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources also took part in the search.

Chafin said the location where the remains were found and the amount of decomposition give his department “confidence that these are the remains of Iron Cannon.” The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the remains and took them to identify them and try to determine how Cannon died, Chafin said.

Cannon was last seen visiting Wadsworth early Oct. 18, 2020. Investigators have said they believe Cannon was killed at an apartment in Wadsworth, which is just west of Akron.

Seven people were indicted in May in Medina County in Cannon’s death, including Justin D. Hornbeck, 28, of Uniontown. Hornbeck’s charges are murder with gun specification, tampering with evidence, being a felon in possession of a firearm, obstructing justice, gross abuse of a corpse, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

The six other people, all from the Akron area, are charged with lesser offenses. All of the cases are still pending in Medina County Common Pleas Court.

Family members of Cannon said he went to Wadsworth with a friend but ended up at an apartment belonging to another man in Wadsworth around the time he went missing. Investigators believe Cannon met with foul play at that location.

Lake Milton is about a 45-minute drive from Wadsworth along Interstate 76.

When Chafin was asked whether his department ever had reason to conduct an investigation at Lake Milton, he said no.

He said like most people from the Wadsworth area, he has driven over the Lake Milton bridge at I-76 on his way somewhere but “never for an investigation.”

erunyan@vindy.com