A body found near a lake in remote northern Whitman County is being investigated as a homicide.
Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers said a fisherman discovered the body of an adult male Sunday afternoon in a creek about a quarter mile south of Bonnie Lake, just north of Belsby Road near Rosalia. Deputies, local emergency medical personnel and the county coroner recovered the body Sunday evening.
It appeared to have been in the water for some time, he added.
"It could have been a couple of weeks, it could have been a couple of months," he said. "This time of year, it's a little tough to tell. The water is very cold, and there's usually a little more preservation."
Myers declined to say why investigators are classifying the death as a homicide.
"When we think it's a homicide, there's probably something there that leads us to believe that," he said without elaborating.
Myers said his office hopes to have a positive identification as well as a cause and manner of death established after an autopsy later this week. "As soon as we know the results of that, we'll let people know," Myers said.
Bonnie Lake is a narrow ribbon of water in a deep canyon with an outlet on its southern end that connects to Rock Lake. Myers said the body could have entered the water anywhere north of where it was found, and then moved with the current to where the fisherman spotted it "in plain view."
The county typically has open missing persons investigations at any given time, and investigators are checking to see if they match the body with any of those records.
The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported that witnesses told investigators they believe the victim is a Rosalia man who has been missing since a Dec. 27 dinner party at the home of Nick Backman in nearby Malden.
Backman told the newspaper that the man fled the home when another man burst in and chased him outside, and that burglaries in the area may have led to the chase. Backman was present during the body recovery Sunday, and said the arms and legs were bound.
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Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 883-0564.