WASHINGTON — A Minnesota man is having his remains returned to the continental U.S. for burial 80 years after he was killed during World War II.

Army First Lieutenant Herman J. Sundstad was 26 years old in the summer of 1944. His unit, Task Force Galahad, was engaged with Japanese forces in Burman, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said.  

“The exact circumstances of his death were not recorded, and his remains were not accounted for during or after the war,” DPAA said in a press release published Friday. 

Sundstad was from Perley, Minnesota, a town in Norman County that today has a population of about 100. 

The American Graves Registration Service recovered a set of unknown remains after his death in 1944. DPAA said those remains were examined but could not be specifically identified. They were taken to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, where they remained for nearly eight decades. 

Three years ago, Sundstad’s remains were disinterred, and DPAA said scientists used dental, anthropological, and mitochondrial DNA analysis to find who he was. 

Now, funeral plans are made for Nov. 11. At the Tablets of the Missing in the Philippines, a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for. 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus woman has gone viral on TikTok after sharing a story about finding a rug buried in her yard. The discovery prompted the Columbus Division of Police to get involved.

Katie Santry has lived at the east Columbus house for about a year. She said she stumbled upon the strange discovery while digging holes for fence posts.

“We were building a fence, and we, through digging a post wall, came across a carpet. It was weird but I kind of let it go,” Santry told 10TV on Thursday evening.

LATEST UPDATES: Columbus police provide update after digging up rug from woman’s backyard; no remains found

Some time later, she said her computer was shattered and her desk strewn about in the middle of the night, but no one in the home reportedly did it.

“I jokingly said, ‘did the body in the rug do it?’ and I put that on TikTok, and now everyone at this point has seen it,” she said.

Santry said she was going to leave the carpet-like fabric alone but was influenced by TikTok viewers to call police to dig it up.

“When they first came out, they thought nothing of it, and I think because of the virality of the TikTok, they called me today [Thursday] when my friends and I were actually going to dig this rug up today out of curiosity,” she said.

Columbus police told her they wanted to bring K-9s to investigate.

Santry streamed some of the investigation on TikTok Thursday afternoon. More than 100,000 users tuned in to watch at times, as she showed video of the K-9s sniffing through her yard.

At one point, Santry watches as the dog sniffs a spot and then sits down. She can be heard gasping in the video.

“The world saw the dogs sit on the hole and it kind of ended there,” Santry said.

When asked about the previous owners of the home, Santry told reporters that they were in their 90s and had moved into a nursing home. She believes they were the only owners before her family moved in.

While viewers have tuned in to watch what happens next in the investigation, Santry has watched her following grow.

“The day I posted it I had 6,000 followers,” she said, “It happened like snap of a finger. I didn’t anticipate virality in the slightest.”

A nearby neighbor who has lived in his home for 20 years told 10TV that the attention has been disturbing and alarming.

“This is the loudest it has been in a long, long time,” he said. “I hope they find what they’re looking for and we can get back to life as normal and quiet and peaceful.”

Columbus police began excavating outside the home Friday morning. Officers provided an update in the afternoon saying that no remains had been found. 

DALLAS — Amy Schultz was supposed to be in the mountains of Western North Carolina for what she called one of her speedbump birthdays – a year that ends in a five.

She lives in North Texas but used to be a Florida resident, so she doesn’t take hurricanes lightly.

She and her husband were scheduled on an American Airlines flight from DFW Thursday.

But when the airline waived its change fees because a hurricane was bearing down across the southeast, they took it as a sign to cancel their trip.

“I am so grateful that we didn’t go,” Amy said. “On the other hand, I’m so devastated by seeing people and their lives and their property. And the culture of that Asheville community is just been toppled and it’s catastrophic.”

Amy Schultz is an artist, and the Blue Ridge Mountains is a haven for the arts.

That’s one reason the couple started visiting years ago. Amy called the region “a national treasure.”

“It’s just so special. It’s out of a fairy tale. The natural beauty is extraordinary,” she said.

Regular visits turned into buying a home in the city of Black Mountain.

They closed on the home on Second Street two months ago. Then came deadly floods.

Buncombe County, where Black Mountain is, reports 57 lives lost and the search for survivors continues.

The Schultzes had become fast friends with their new neighbors, but without power or cell phone service across the region, they couldn’t reach any of them.

They left messages and held onto hope for days on end.

Finally, on Amy’s birthday, a neighbor who had driven to Raleigh finally got cell service restored and let them know their house was standing and only had minimal damage.

“Damage on our end of the street was due more to falling trees than flooding,” Amy said. “We are so relieved and grateful. And still so sad.”

“Our plan is to go back as soon as we can. As soon as it’s safe. As soon as we’re not taking gas away from people who want it, and as soon as we’re not taking water away from people who need it, That’s when we’re going to go back,” Amy said.