Police identify body found in pond

Police identified the body found Tuesday evening in Dry Bridge Gulch pond as 61-year-old Claude Hedges of Kalispell.

Flathead County coroners determined Hedges drowned, but have not yet established how it happened. The body is still at the state crime lab in Missoula undergoing toxicology tests.

Hedges lived only a short distance from the park where he was found, said Kalispell police detective Lt. Jim Brenden.

It is still unknown when Hedges' body will be returned to his family.

Hedges was found fully clothed and police found no apparent signs of foul play, Brenden said.

Police have not yet released information about how long the body was in the water.

A group of people fishing in the lagoon noticed the body and at first thought it was a mannequin, police said Tuesday. They eventually grew suspicious and called authorities. The first units arrived on the scene between 5 and 6 p.m. and determined that it was a body. Hedges was recovered from the water and taken to an area funeral home for the night.

The body was sent to the state crime lab in Missoula Wednesday, where evidence is being collected. If the crime lab does find suspicious circumstances surrounding the man's death, Kalispell police will begin an investigation, Brenden said.

The Kalispell Police Department's major case unit searched the lagoon and its banks Tuesday, 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.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com