Attorney found dead in his Lexus 8 days after vanishing in Ozarks, Missouri cops say

The body of an attorney who had been missing for more than a week in the Ozarks was found in the backseat of his vehicle, according to a Missouri sheriff.

Brian Byrd, 50, had last been seen in the areas of Osage Beach and Lake Ozark on Sunday, July 10, the Camden County Sheriff’s Office said.

Detectives found the local attorney’s body on Monday, July 18, in the backseat of his black Lexus outside Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach, the sheriff said.

It’s unclear how long the Lexus had been parked at the hospital.

A cause of death has not been determined, with an autopsy set to be performed later in the week.

“Brian was a great attorney in the lake area,” a Facebook user named Derek Brown wrote. “He had a successful private practice and he also helped a lot with children’s division and special public defender cases, which involved representing the most helpless members in our community and was essentially volunteering because he wasn’t paid much for those cases. He was a person who made the lake a better place to live.”

This story was originally published July 19, 2022 at 6:05 AM with the headline "Attorney found dead in his Lexus 8 days after vanishing in Ozarks, Missouri cops say."