Search For Inn Manager, 73, Focuses On River

Searchers are checking the icy waters of the Salmon River as they hunt for an elderly manager of a North Fork motel and restaurant.

Nancy Cummings, 73, was last seen Monday night by bar patrons at the River’s Fork Inn. Family members discovered she was gone at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when they came to the inn, Lemhi County Sheriff Brett Barsalou said.

Authorities launched three boats Wednesday morning, each carrying a search dog, to find the longtime resident of this community, 22 miles north of Salmon. Cummings’ son owns the River’s Fork Inn.

There is no evidence of foul play. Monday’s receipts were still in the cash register and nothing appeared to have been disturbed. The outside door was locked and her coat was still on the premises.

“There’s nothing to show us that a crime’s been committed,” Barsalou said.

When a team of dogs sniffed the area at dusk Tuesday, two out of three went to the river. Sheriff’s deputies and about 25 members of the Salmon Search and Rescue have combed the area from the Salmon River to Gibbonsville and from North Fork to Corn Creek.