Montana searchers find woman’s body

CRAIG, Mont. – Search and rescue crews recovered the body of a Tacoma woman and will continue their search today for a Helena man who was with her on a raft that capsized in a swollen and fast-moving Dearborn River.

Lewis and Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson identified the dead woman as 48-year-old Melody Alvestad.

Sheriff Cheryl Liedle said the woman’s body was found about noon Monday, not far from where another member of her rafting party was rescued Sunday night. Jason Grimmis, deputy sheriff for Lewis and Clark County, identified the rescued man as 55-year-old Lanny O’Leary. Grimmis declined to identify the missing man.

Searchers on the ground found the body while looking for the woman and a missing Helena man who had been rafting the Dearborn when their raft capsized Sunday.

Grimmis said the search was suspended about 7:45 p.m. but would continue today on the river in the Craig area between Helena and Great Falls.

Alvestad, O’Leary and the missing Helena man were part of a three-raft group of seven people, most of them from the Helena area, Liedle said.

The search-and-rescue work begun Sunday night included a Homeland Security helicopter that carried eight people and made an emergency landing late Sunday because the rotor touched a tree, Liedle said. No one on the helicopter was injured.

Liedle said four of the seven rafters reached land safely. Her office received a call for help about 7:30 p.m. MDT Sunday.

O’Leary was rescued shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday, received medical attention at a Great Falls hospital and was released, Liedle said.

The National Weather Service said the Dearborn River at Craig surpassed its flood stage of 6.5 feet on Saturday and reached a peak of 8.5 feet on Sunday at 9:45 p.m. The flow began to drop on Monday, the service said.

“We really strongly discourage folks from coming up to try to assist us … because of the extremely dangerous conditions on that river,” Liedle said.