Body in river still a mystery 26 years later
Man was shot; no missing person report
LEWISTON – It’s been 26 years, but the Nez Perce County sheriff’s office isn’t ready to give up on finding out what happened to a man whose body was found in the Snake River.
Chief Deputy Bill Madison said the agency still calls or e-mails detectives in other agencies to exchange descriptions to try to identify the man.
“There’s been some real close comparisons, but at this point there hasn’t been any positive matches done,” Madison told the Lewiston Tribune.
So far, all authorities know is that he was shot with a .38-caliber weapon.
Police said the body could have entered the river far upstream of where it was found south of Lewiston. No missing persons reports were received that might have helped identify the man.
An artist’s rendition of what the man possibly looked like is still posted on a bulletin board in the sheriff’s office and its Web site.
A Lewiston fisherman found the man’s body on June 26, 1982, on the Idaho side of the river across from the mouth of the Grand Ronde River.
“There was no missing person we didn’t have no idea where the body came from,” retired Nez Perce County Sheriff Ron Koeper said. “It could have come from Idaho County or Oregon.”
Police said the man was about 20 years old, 5-foot-11 and about 150 pounds. He had straight brown or black hair, and a 2-inch scar on his right ankle.
Police said the body had likely been in the water two to three weeks.
“It’s a funny thing, because you’d think somebody would report somebody missing,” said Koeper, 75. “And as far as my knowledge, nobody has done that. You like to solve them. Some of them are tough.”