Body found in city pond
Kalispell Fire Department firefighter medic Kyle Gully gets help zipping up an ice rescue suit before entering a lagoon to retrieve a body found Tuesday evening at Dry Bridge Gulch in Kalispell. Detective Lt. Jim Brenden of the Kalispell police said that the body would be taken today to the state crime lab in Missoula. Jennifer DeMonte/Daily Inter Lake
Kalispell police say death does not appear to be deliberate
The Daily Inter Lake
Kalispell police and firefighters recovered the body of an older man from the lagoon in Dry Bridge Gulch Tuesday evening.
The body was fully clothed and police found no apparent signs of foul play, said Kalispell police detective Lt. Jim Brenden.
Police don't yet know how long the body was in the water and the man has not been identified, he said.
A group of people fishing in the lagoon noticed the body and at first thought it was a mannequin, police said. They eventually grew suspicious and called authorities. The first units arrived on the scene between 5 and 6 p.m. and determined it was actually a body. The body was recovered from the water and taken to an area funeral home for the night.
The body will be sent to the state crime lab in Missoula today, where a cause of death will be determined. If the crime lab does find suspicious circumstances surrounding the man's death, Kalispell police will begin an investigation, Brenden said.
In the meantime, the Kalispell Police Department's major case unit is searching the lagoon and its banks for more evidence, Brenden said.
The area is reasonably busy, and city Parks and Recreation crews had been mowing the grass around the lagoon for the past two days, according to a neighbor.
Dry Bridge Gulch is a city-designated park near the intersection of Woodland Avenue and 11th Street East. The city typically stocks the lagoon with fish, police said, and a trail runs next to the water.