Body recovered from Pend Oreille River

LACLEDE — The body of an adult male was found in the Pend Oreille River west of Johnson Creek on Friday morning, Bonner County Sheriff’s officials said.

The body was in an advanced state of decomposition, hampering a positive identification.

“Because of the condition of the body, we really can’t tell who it is,” Lt. Doug Harris said.

The body will be taken to the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office, where an autopsy is slated for Monday, Harris said.

Harris said a Pend Oreille Valley Railroad employee spotted the body at about 9:30 a.m. The body was about 10-15 feet from the north bank of the river and hung up on a branch.

Marine patrol deputies and detectives recovered the body and took it to a boat launch at Riley Creek, where it was loaded into a local funeral home’s hearse.

Sheriff’s officials declined to speculate if the body could be that of Patrick Clifford Opferman, a Sagle man who has not been seen since last fall. Sheriff’s detectives suspect Opferman might have fallen into the river while walking on the U.S. Highway 95 Long Bridge toward Sandpoint.

Opferman, 50, was last seen at the Long Bridge Grill on the evening Nov. 30, 2008.

However, sheriff’s officials do not believe the body is that another presumed drowning victim, 43-year-old Donald Robert Maskell. Maskell, of Spirit Lake, either jumped or fell into the Priest River on May 22 and was swept downstream by strong currents.

The Priest River discharges into the Pend Oreille River. However, the body discovered on Friday was upstream of the Priest’s confluence with the Pend Oreille.