Body Found On Golf Course Elderly Cda Man Missing 2 Days When Discovered Near Third Hole
An elderly man who had been missing for two days was found dead Thursday at a Coeur d’Alene golf course.
Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies believe Richard T. Smith, 68, died after falling off a rocky outcropping at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.
A Reno, Nev., man found Smith’s body near the third hole at about 10 a.m. while walking along the Lake Coeur d’Alene beach.
“It kind of made me a little queasy, it was unnerving,” said Alry Potash.
Potash had been visiting his wife in Coeur d’Alene when he went for a walk Thursday morning. He walked along Sanders Beach and then went farther west onto The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.
“I came over this one set of rocks and found this coat and hat laying there and thought that was kind of odd,” Potash said. “I took a couple more steps and he was laying there in the water.”
Potash headed straight to the golf course shop where he found Mike DeLong, the general manager. DeLong then called the sheriff’s department.
A friend and roommate of Smith’s reported the elderly man missing Tuesday to both the Coeur d’Alene Police Department and the Kootenai County coroner’s office.
Charles E. Lockard of Coeur d’Alene told officials that Smith had left their home on South 14th Street at about 7:30 that morning to go for a walk. Lockard became worried when Smith didn’t return and hunted unsuccessfully for his roommate in the usual places he walked, said Jody DeLuca, chief deputy coroner.
“He was a wonderful person,” Lockard said Thursday of Smith. Kootenai County Sheriff Pierce Clegg said it appears Smith was dressed for the weather.
“It appears he slipped on the rocks and fell down and eventually froze,” Clegg said. “It does just appear to be an unfortunate accident.”
Head wounds indicate that Smith struck his head during the fall. It also appears that the elderly man may have tried to climb out of the rocky area and fell again, Clegg said.
The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course has been closed to golfing since Halloween, although the shop is still open for shopping. DeLong said that people are discouraged from walking around on the golf course.
A fence closes off the course near the beach, but it can easily be skirted when the water level drops, DeLong said. Part of the fence had also been knocked down from past wind storms.
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