Human remains found in Kootenai River

The Boundary County Sheriff’s Office is investigating human skeletal remains found in the Kootenai River east of Bonners Ferry on Monday.

Workers found the remains on a gravel island in the river as they were clearing brush for a habitat restoration project, the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Thursday.

The skeleton was mostly intact and appeared to have been on the island for some time, the post said.

The Boundary County Coroner removed the remains and has scheduled an autopsy to be performed. The Sheriff’s Office is also in contact with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in Montana to determine whether the remains could be related to any open missing person cases.