Man’s Body Pulled From Spokane River

Divers pulled a man’s body from the Spokane River Saturday after a walker found it tangled in tree limbs.

The unidentified victim’s blue flannel shirt snagged a tree branch, about 25 yards off the river’s north bank.

Divers standing in chest-deep water cut the branch to free the man and dragged him to shore about 4 p.m.

There were no visible wounds on the man’s body, but police are awaiting the results of an autopsy on Monday to rule out foul play, said Sgt. Larry Evans.

A man walking along a dirt trail across the river from the Peaceful Valley Community Center found the body about 1:30 p.m. The body was dangling about three feet out of the water, meaning it had probably been in the receding river for a couple of days, police said.

Police were unable to identify the body Saturday. Police have not received any missing persons reports this year, said spokesman Dick Cottam.

The man, who appears to have been in his mid-40s, was wearing two pairs of pants, a characteristic of a transient, Evans said.

Debris from two makeshift camps littered the bank above the body, but police said the camps probably had not been used in several weeks. , DataTimes