Pair found dead in Idaho wilderness

Published 11:00 pm Saturday, August 9, 2008

WALLACE, Idaho — Police are trying to determine the identities of a young man and a woman found dead in the remote northern Idaho wilderness.

A Wallace man found the bodies while he was picking huckleberries on top of Dobson Pass on Friday morning, police said.

“A young male and female were apparently pushed or dumped off the road there,” Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds said, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported. “There’s no gun, no weapon and no car.”

The man died of an apparent gunshot wound but police are still trying to determine how the woman died. The bodies are believed to have been at the scene for a day or less, and neither the man nor the woman was carrying any identification, Reynalds said. The victims were believed to be in their mid-20s and are Caucasian, police said.

“Right now we’re trying to find out who they are,” Reynalds said. “We suspect who they are, but we’re not sure.”

Autopsies are being performed at Holy Family Hospital in Spokane, with results expected by Monday. Police have no suspects yet, Reynalds said.

Reynalds said some camping gear was found in the area, but it was difficult to determine if the two were actually camping there.

“It doesn’t appear they came up to do anything long-term,” he said.