A Ku Klux Klan leader was reportedly found dead under suspicious circumstances near a rural river in Missouri after being reported missing by his employer.
A body discovered on Saturday was identified as Frank Ancona, the self-proclaimed “imperial wizard” of a KKK chapter near St. Louis. The 51-year-old was last seen at his Leadwood home on Wednesday morning, his wife told authorities.
Ancona's wife, Malissa Ancona, said he was called to work to make an out-of-state delivery. He packed a bag, took his guns and had not made contact with relatives since, according to the Daily Journal newspaper.
Police said Ancona’s employer made no such call and reached out to authorities on Friday after he was a no-show at work.
A safe inside the couple’s home was bashed in with a crowbar and its contents missing when an officer stopped by the home, the Journal reported.
Leadwood Police Chief William Dickey said a burglary was not suspected.
Cops also questioned Ancona's wife on a Facebook posting she made the day of his disappearance that sought a roommate for her husband.
She said Ancona was filing for divorce when he returned and would likely need help paying for rent, according to authorities.
Ancona's vehicle was found near the site of his body in Washington County. No arrests have been made and Leadwood police did not name a suspect.
Ancona's son, whose name is also Frank, said in a Facebook post Thursday evening that his family had not had contact with his father since Wednesday night.
"This isn't like my dad," the younger Ancona wrote.
The Daily Journal report makes no mention to Ancona's affiliation with the hate group and that he runs a website dedicated to the "Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan." The site features Ancona wearing KKK regalia in front of a burning cross.
In the wake of the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Ancona threatened that KKK members would use “lethal force” against protesters.
The KKK leader was named in a 2013 lawsuit lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union against the city of Desloge for allowing Ancona’s KKK group to distribute neighborhood watch leaflets, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
