An 82-year-old man driving from his home in Chicago to Minnesota crashed his pickup truck along the way and was found dead Wednesday in the Wisconsin woods nearly three weeks later, authorities said.

Edward Kruger's body was discovered in his pickup by a farmer. The vehicle had left Interstate 90 north of Madison, gone through a fence and into a cornfield and had come to rest in woods, said Tim Schneider, chief of police in Plainview, Minn. His department was investigating Kruger's disappearance on behalf of family members who live there. Kruger occasionally lived in Elgin, about 6 miles southwest of Plainview.

Police said Kruger was believed to have been on his way to see relatives in Brooklyn Center when he disappeared June 29.

"It was pretty clear" he crashed his pickup in Columbia County, Schneider said.

PAUL WALSH