Jerica Hamre, (Lincoln Police Department, Courtesy)
LINCOLN — The Lincoln Police Department and Nebraska State Patrol have identified the body found in rural Furnas County as that of Jerica Hamre who has been missing since 2024.
Hamre’s body was discovered on Wednesday, Dec. 17 on a rural farm in northeast Furnas County, north of Oxford. A representative of the farm’s owners was inspecting the property in preparation for sale and found the body in an outbuilding in one of the fields, according to the Nebraska State Patrol.
“It was apparent that the person had been deceased for some time,” the state patrol’s initial press released stated.
Hamre’s death is being investigated as a homicide.
“We do have a person of interest in this case, who is already in custody on unrelated charges, and there is no ongoing threat to the community,” according to the Lincoln Police Department.
Hamre had last been seen at her home in the 3500 block of Huntington Ave. in Lincoln on June 25, 2024. She was reported missing to the Lincoln Police Department the following week.
In October 2024, LPD and other agencies spent two days searching a property in Overton. Unfortunately, that search did not uncover anything of evidentiary value.
Investigators had believed that Hamre could have been in the have last been in the vicinity of Arapahoe, Holdrege, Overton and Lexington, Nebraska, along with the surrounding rural areas.
“Since Hamre’s disappearance, numerous search efforts have been conducted near the location in which her body was found. The searches included law enforcement, family, friends, and community volunteers,” the Lincoln Police Department stated in a release.
“Thank you to our partners at Nebraska State Patrol, Furnas County Sheriff’s Office, Lancaster County Attorney’s Office, Furnas County Attorney’s Office and Nebraska Attorney General’s Office for coordinating on this complicated investigation and working together for many months,” the Lincoln Police Department stated.
