By Kathee Baird
Authorities in Garland County Arkansas say they have a person of interest in the murder of a police dispatcher and mother of three whose remains were found in dense woods near a pond on New Year’s Eve.
Dawna Natzke was last seen leaving a holiday party with her boyfriend, Kevin Duck, 28, on December 21. Natzke’s son reported his mom missing two days later when she didn’t show up for her shift at the Hot Springs Village Police Department.
A friend of Natzke’s allegedly witnessed Duck shoving or pushing Natzke as the couple were leaving the party on Wednesday December 21st. The friend texted Natzke, who is said to have left her purse at the party, around 8 a.m. Thursday (12-22-11) morning and said she was concerned about how she had seen Kevin treating Dawna.
The friend contacted a neighbor of the murdered woman and asked them to check on Natzke after allegedly receiving a “strange text” back saying something along the lines of, “He didn’t shove me. I took a pain pill and stumbled.”
A forest service employee discovered the charred remains of Natzke’s “burned out” vehicle in the Ouachita National Forest on Thursday (12-22-11), however it wasn’t reported to Hot Springs Village authorities until Christmas Eve.
On New Years Eve close to 400 volunteers showed up at Jessieville High School to search for Natzke. About 45 minutes into the search her body was discovered near a pond about 5.5 miles from where her torched car was discovered.
Garland County Sheriff’s Lt. James “Corky” Martin says, “Although we are still awaiting autopsy results from the Arkansas State Crime Lab, we do have enough preliminary information to announce that we are investigating this case as a homicide and we do have a person of interest. At this point we are not releasing any names.”
Martin says they don’t want to release the cause of death, “For reasons detrimental to the case, once we do get the results back from the lab, we will not be able to release the manor or cause of death, nor any other particulars related to the manor or cause.”

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