Authorities Identify Body In Snowdrift

A Hispanic man found dead in a snowdrift last week near Diagonal Road was identified Wednesday as a 25-year-old Yakima man.

Jorge Isais Gonzalez Garcia apparently died of a gunshot wound to the head, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department said. Detectives are investigating Garcia’s death as a homicide.

The Sheriff’s Department has not said what kind of gun was used. They also have not said whether a gun was found, if there were signs of a struggle or how Garcia was clothed.

Detectives have been trying to track Garcia’s activities leading up to his death. They dug Garcia’s body out of a snowdrift last Wednesday along Diagonal Road, which runs northeast from Rathdrum to near Silverwood, after receiving numerous tips.

If Garcia’s death turns out to be a murder, it would be Kootenai County’s first this year. There was only one murder in the county last year.

, DataTimes