'You do not mourn alone' - Hundreds attend funeral of Wall Lake trucker David Schultz (2024)

WALL LAKE, Iowa — While delivering the eulogy Friday morning for David Schultz, The Rev. Donald Peterson III repeatedly imparted a piece of wisdom to the hundreds of grieving attendees.

"You do not mourn alone," Peterson emphasized during the memorial service at Peace Lutheran Church for Schultz, a trucker whose months-long disappearance attracted worldwide attention.

The service came 16 days after Schultz's body was found near the vicinity of the intersection of Union Avenue and 190th Street in rural Sac County April 24, not far from where his red Peterbilt semi-tractor trailer loaded with hogs was discovered abandoned the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2023.

Attendees came from Milford, Okoboji, Sioux Rapids and beyond for the funeral in Wall Lake, where David and Sarah Schultz lived and raised their twin sons, Joseph and Isaack. A blue Peterbilt semi, intended to carry David's casket to the cemetery, was parked on the concrete walkway leading to the church.

The wood-finished casket sat in the narthex. Perched on top were a modest green floral arrangement and a black cowboy hat, the personal effect of a man who grew up up riding a pony named Sparky on and around an acreage north of Sac City. To the left of the casket, an enlarged photo of David that has been seen not just locally but internationally: The father of two and stepfather of two more in a creamy yellow hoodie with a camouflage ballcap pulled up, a slight grin on his face.

Who David Schultz was and what might have happened

David John Schultz was born Sept. 25, 1970, at Loring Hospital in Sac City, Iowa, to parents Elmer and Janet (Craft) Schultz, according to his obituary on the website for the Farber and Otteman Funeral Homes group, which helped conduct the service and livestreamed it. His older siblings,Steven and Susan, grew up with him on the family acreage in rural Sac City. David was baptized at Emanuel St. John Lutheran Church in Lytton, Iowa, and confirmed at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Sac City.

David graduated fromSac City High School in 1989 and then continued living and working odd jobs in Sac County until he was able to purchase his first truck.

He met Sarah Bogue at a mutual friend's birthday and within a week they were smitten enough that Sarah introduced David to her family. They married on Nov. 17, 2012, at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Lake View, Iowa. Less than a year later, they had twins, Joseph and Isaack. In summer 2023,the twins accompanied David in his truck for the first time as he hauled hogs around Northwest Iowa. Sarah previously said he taught the boys how to load and unload the livestock and reminded them to open doors for women and say "please" and "thank you."

""He wants to make sure they go to Sunday school, they go to church and they're respectful," Sarah told The Journal in December.

Though David's disappearance still has not been definitively explained, preliminary autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office, which were announced by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, show no signs of trauma or serious injury. However, further findings are pending. Jake Rowley, who works with the United Cajun Navy, which helped comb through more than 100,000 acres in and around Sac County in an attempt to find David, has alleged, based off of conversations he had with Sarah, that foul play was involved and there are plans for a second autopsy of David's body once the full state results are released.

'When this flesh and heart shall fail'

In his sermon, Peterson told mourners that although much is still unclear about David's death it is clear where he went (to be with family members, gone before him, in heaven). Common attire for trucker friends of David who came out was jeans and dress shirts of darker blue or black. Sarah was in red and black while the Schultz sons were in matching blue suit jackets. She was at the head of the procession of family members at the church and almost immediately began to weep when stopping behind David's casket. One funeral service official quickly told another to get more facial tissues.

As more people filed in, attendants began offering peppermints. "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" was one of the first songs to be played on the church organ and was followed by other hymns that are cornerstones of Christian funerals: "How Great Thou Art" and "Amazing Grace," which contains a verse about the power of grace to relieve one's fears. Numerous funeralgoers dabbed their eyes as the latter song played as they did for the former which accompanied David's casket out of the sanctuary. His body exited with the words, "But when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in."

Graveside services continued at the Wall Lake Cemetery. Once concluded, Sarah spoke with numerous family members and thanked Rowley, who helped marshal hundreds to look for David in the days and weeks following his disappearance.

"I was getting so many messages and it didn't seem real at first," Sarah said.

As one last show of support for David, the Driver Advocacy Network of Iowa helped sponsor "Convoy for Truth: A David Schultz memorial," which ran a continuous, multi-hour loop of semis on U.S. Highway 20 from Early, Iowa, to Rockwell City, Iowa, the same stretch of road that Schultz drove his own semi on the night he disappeared.

"Remember Safety First! Be Courteous! Forget Your Ego!" read the message from Mitchel Riesgraf, the Iowa chairman for D.A.N.

How things now stand

Through March, a reward fund established to help locate David Schultz stood at $28,400; which includes $25,000 of American Rescue Plan funds Sac County voted to earmark for the case. Sac County Attorney Ben Smith previously told The Journal that no one has inquired about the reward.