BCSO: Body is missing woman's

SANDPOINT — Human remains discovered in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains have been positively identified as those of Mirissa Serrano, a 27-year-old Montana woman who was reported missing in Bonner County in the fall of 2017, according to the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office.

A hunter discovered the remains off U.S. Forest Service Road No. 278 on Sept. 26. The discovery was in the same general area — the remote and mountainous southeastern edge of Lake Pend Oreille‚ where ground and aerial searches were conducted in September 2017 after Serrano was reported missing.

“Based on new evidence recovered, the initial autopsy findings and the forensic analysis of that evidence, this case has now turned into an active homicide investigation,” Sheriff Daryl Wheeler said in a statement.

Detectives from Bonner and Missoula counties, in addition to Forest Service special agents and forensic scientists from the University of Montana, converged on the site of the discovery to recover the Lolo woman’s body and gather evidence, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office said. Evidence recovered during the processing of the scene is being analyzed by state and federal forensic labs.

Serrano’s family has been notified of the positive identification and sheriff’s officials said the family is asking for privacy.

No details about Serrano’s disappearance were released when she was reported missing. No record of Serrano’s disappearance could be found in the federal missing persons database or databases for the states of Idaho, Montana and Washington, which suggested that she was presumed dead around the time she was reported missing.

Family members later took to social media to implicate Danny Harold Neep in Serrano’s disappearance. Authorities in Bonner County subsequently confirmed that Neep was the last person to be seen with Serrano.

Neep, a 62-year-old Spokane resident, was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm on Road No. 278 by a Forest Service law officer who was taking part in the search for Serrano, according to court documents. Neep was barred from being in possession of a firearm due to felony convictions for forgery in Placer County, Calif., and unlawful weapon possession in El Norte County, Calif., in 1999.

Neep was in possession of a 20-guage shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle during the traffic stop 8 miles south of Lakeview, court records indicate.

Neep pleaded guilty to the charges and is serving a two- to four-year term at the Idaho State Correctional Center in Kuna, according to the Idaho Department of Correction.

Neep has not been charged with a crime against Serrano and he has not been formally named as a suspect in her death by authorities in Bonner County.

Sheriff’s officials said detectives are conferring with the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office on the filing of criminal charges, but did not elaborate.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said the cause of death has yet been identified but confirmed Serrano’s manner of death as a homicide.

“I would encourage people with information on this case to come forward now. Certainly, I will look more favorably upon those that come forward on their own volition rather than being forced through a subpoena or some other legal process,” Marshall said.

Wheeler expressed gratitude for the assistance sheriff’s detectives have received from fellow law enforcement officers.

“I would like to thank all the agencies that have assisted us with the investigation of Mirissa’s demise,” Wheeler said.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.