PIERCETON — Kosciusko County officials are investigating the apparent farming death of a Leesburg man north of Pierceton.

Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Deputies and emergency personnel responded today just before 5 p.m., to the 600 block of North State Road 13, Pierceton, in regards to a farm machinery accident.  Officers arrived and located the victim, Daniel Rex Werstler, 62, Leesburg, pinned underneath a farm implement/planter.

Kosciusko County Deputy Coroner Tracy Cutler-Wilson was summoned to the scene and pronounced Werstler deceased from blunt-force trauma.  Cutler-Wilson stated that the scene investigation determined that Werstler was working in the barn area while at the family farm when it appears the implement shifted while he was underneath it by him.

The Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department and Kosciusko County Coroner’s Office were assisted at the scene by the Pierceton Fire Department, Multi-Township E.M.S., and the Pierceton Police Department.