UPDATE: Missing Red Wing man’s death probable suicide

Brad Nagel’s Body Found in Red Wing

A comprehensive look of the day's local, regional and national news, detailed events, late-breaking stories and weather updates are provided by the ABC 6 News Team.

(ABC 6 News) – 57-year-old Brad Nagel had been missing since Nov. 16 and yesterday his body was found on his property in rural Red Wing.

The discovery of Brad Nagel’s body on Sunday brought closure to his family and the Red Wing community following his disappearance on Nov. 16. But that discovery came with even greater tragedy.

On Saturday, the Pierce County Sheriff’s office conducted one last search on the Wisconsin back channel of the Mississippi River for Brad Nagel, where his truck was found a week before. After they determined Brad Nagel was not in the water, Goodhue County began looking elsewhere.

“We had some information on a possible sighting on video of Brad in the Red Wing area,” said Marty Kelly, Goodhue County Sheriff, on what led them back to brad’s property in rural Red Wing. “Unfortunately they had located the body of Brad on a steep, very steep embankment. Brad was located and we were able to extricate him out of the woods for a little closure for the family.”

The closure doesn’t come without tragedy; Nagel’s death has been ruled a suicide.

Many have been taking to social media, describing Brad as encouraging, exuberant, patient, and an all around phenomenal instructor and role model for those he taught at the Red Wing Environmental Learning Center.

This loss also hits home for Kelly, who grew up and graduated high school with Brad in Red Wing.

“We used to wrestle together, and after school he was in the ELC as a kid, and then he joined that. He’s probably been in the ELC for 40 years and helping all those kids come up. So he touched so many lives so [many of] the kids, the families and their parents of course. So that’s countless numbers of people,” Kelly said.

At this time, the Environmental Learning Center and Brad Nagel’s family ask for privacy.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health, there are people and resources to help you.

According to the Goodhue County Sheriff’s office, Brad Nagel was found on his own property in rural Red Wing. Authorities say he was found on a steep embankment with a “single self-inflicted wound”.

The Sheriff’s office is not suspecting foul play in Nagel’s death.

Previous story:

UPDATE: missing Red Wing man found deceased

Brad Nagel, the man at the center of multiple searches after being reported missing in mid-November, has been found deceased on his property in rural Red Wing, Minn., According to the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office.

(ABC 6 News) – Brad Nagel, the man at the center of multiple searches after being reported missing in mid-November, has been found deceased on his property in rural Red Wing, Minn., According to the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office.

His body was located by searchers on the afternoon of Nov. 26, prompting a response from the The Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.

Nagel, 57, was reported missing on Nov. 16, launching a multi-state search coordinated by the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

Days later, on Nov. 19, his truck was located roughly 40 yards from the shore of a boat landing at the edge of Wisc. on the Wisconsin Channel, which splits from the Mississippi River. Neither Goodhue or Pierce County Sheriff’s have determined how his truck ended up in the back channel.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s office continued searches in the area his truck was found this weekend.

During their investigation, the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office uncovered surveillance video that showed Nagel walking down a street alone, just hours before being reported missing. That was the last confirmed sighting of Nagel before his body was found by searchers.

Pierce County Sheriff’s office did confirm Goodhue’s report of finding Nagel on their Facebook page.

More information is expected to be released on Monday after the sheriff’s office and medical examiner’s office investigates the nature and manner of death.