The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s tribal police department announced that pathology reports have identified the body found on July 23 in Onamia as that of William Anthony Nickaboine, a 19-year old Mille Lacs Band member who went missing on July 17.

Tribal police also identified the two suspects being held on suspicion of second degree murder as 20-year-old Joshua Simon Boyd of Vineland and 22-year-old Aaron James Beaulieu also of Vineland. Formal charges by the Mille Lacs County attorney are pending. Beaulieu is being held at the Mille Lacs County jail; Boyd is being held at the Stearns County jail.

The body was discovered by a community search party late on the evening of July 23. On Saturday, July 24, at 12:10 p.m. tribal police and tribal DNR officers, assisted by the Minnesota State Patrol and Onamia Police Department, arrested the two suspects.

William Anthony Nickaboine was last seen on Gebeshi Lane on July 17 on the Mille Lacs Reservation in Vineland, which is north of Onamia on the southwest side of Mille Lacs Lake. His body was discovered on Timber Trail Road in Onamia, about two miles from Gebeshi Lane. A pathology report and analysis was conducted to identify the body.

In addition to the Minnesota State Patrol, Onamia Police Department and Mille Lacs Band DNR, Mille Lacs tribal police have also been assisted in this case by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office.