Body Found Near Upriver Dam

Wed., May 3, 2000

From Staff

Members of the sheriff’s marine patrol unit pulled a dead man from the Spokane River below the Upriver Dam Tuesday afternoon.

A maintenance crew working on the dam called sheriff’s deputies at noon Tuesday after spotting a bloated, bruised body floating amid logs and other debris near the shore just west of the dam.

A crowd of more than 30 people stood along the Centennial Trail and watched as a rescue boat with marine patrollers retrieved the body. It was taken by boat to the 2300 block of Upriver Drive.

The man has not been identified, but may be a bicyclist who was seen jumping or falling off the Trent Bridge just east of Pines Road on April 11. That’s the only missing person thought to be in the Spokane River, said Sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan.

The man matched a description of a 47-year-old teacher who had been reported missing that same day.

An investigation concluded that the jumping incident was probably not an accident because of the way the man went over the bridge, Reagan said.

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