Body of missing swimmer recovered

MOSCOW, Idaho — Officials in Latah County say divers have recovered the body of a Troy resident from a popular north-central Idaho swimming hole. Sheriff Wayne Rausch says 39-year-old Roger L. Birchmier was swimming with a church group at the Blue Lagoons north of Bovill Sunday afternoon when he went missing. Divers from Nez Perce County searched for Birchmier for about three hours Sunday and resumed the search Monday morning. Birchmier’s body was found in 20 feet of water. Sgt. Earl Ashton with the Latah County sheriff’s office tells the Lewiston Tribune that friends and family who were swimming with Birchmier say he was next to them one second, and then gone the next. An autopsy is planned, but the initial investigation indicates Birchmeier drowned.