The Lost and the Found

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/p...cle_9aae6a38-3fb2-11e4-9bbb-db5e184db771.html

Police Release Photo in Unidentified Body Case

By Alison Gene Smith alismith@magicvalley.com
Sep 19, 2014

TWIN FALLS • Divers spent hours Thursday sifting through the murky Snake River for any clues that might help identify the body of a woman found floating floating west of the I.B. Perrine Bridge.

Just after 12 p.m. the divers went in, making meticulous passes over the spot where investigators believe the woman went in the water, on the north side of the bridge.

Then at 12:53 p.m., one of the divers called toward the boat. “Evidence container, I need an evidence container.”


Sheriff’s deputies and members of the media all whipped their heads around toward the divers. Sgt. Jeff Haskell and Lt. Daron Brown retrieved the white plastic tube, about 12 inches long and 6 inches wide and handed it to the divers.

“Are you sure it’s related to the case?” Brown asked.

“No,” dive captain Kim Shelley yelled back.

“Is it media-sensitive?”

“No.”

“Is it alive?”

“No,” she yelled back, laughing. “It’s a piece of clothing.”

Haskell opened the container and pulled the item out : A pair of dark blue parachute pants covered in mud. The unidentified woman had been found fully clothed. As he dug in the pockets, Haskell shook his head.

“They’re from a BASE jumper,” he said, pulling out a rubber band used to pack parachutes.

After changing tanks, the divers went back under the near-zero-visibility water and continued to search by touch around shopping cards, bowling balls and other debris thrown from the bridge.

Brown was pulling for a wallet with identification. Even a piece of jewelry could bring the investigators closer to finding who the woman was.

Later in the day the divers found a jacket, but it appeared to have been in the water for too long to have belonged to Jane Doe, said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Lori Stewart.

Thursday, the sheriff’s office decided to release a photo of the woman. The photo of the woman’s face was put through a filter to make it look like a sketch, Stewart said.