Body of missing woman found in car in pond

The body of a missing Whitefish woman was found Wednesday.

According to her aunt, Gidget Giannola, 23-year-old Alex Nicole Beltran was found inside her vehicle in a pond on private property on the west side of Kalispell.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said a Kalispell resident reported finding Beltran’s green 1998 Toyota RAV4 in a pond on his property. Divers from the Sheriff’s Office confirmed the finding and described the pond as very murky with no visibility.

Curry said it appeared the vehicle traveled down the driveway, across a lawn and into the water.

Beltran’s body was taken to the Montana State Crime Lab for an autopsy and the Sheriff’s Office investigation continues.

During a phone conversation Tuesday with the Inter Lake, Curry said Beltran and her friends had been drinking the night she disappeared July 16.

“We have put a lot into the search for her,” Curry said. “Two detectives were working on it almost full-time, search and rescue was involved, we used a helicopter, the FBI assisted in trying to determine if her cellphone had been used.”

Beltran was last seen late the night of July 16 by two friends who had dropped her off at her vehicle after they had spent time socializing earlier that day.

Before Wednesday’s discovery, Beltran’s disappearance had left her family members and law enforcement officials perplexed. The family posted fliers about Beltran throughout the area and made public pleas for anyone with information to call law enforcement.

The family got the news of her death late Wednesday morning from the Sheriff’s Office.

Giannola said Alex had moved to the area from Las Vegas after visiting her father and falling in love with it. She worked as a certified nursing assistant and had bought a home in the Happy Valley area.

“She liked the lake, she liked nature and she spent a lot of time hiking with friends,” Giannola said. “She was a big Harry Potter fan and she loved her animals.”

Kalispell resident Chris Zarcone owns the property where Beltran’s body and vehicle were found.

“It’s a difficult thing, knowing it was her final resting place,” Zarcone said Wednesday. “But we’re glad she could be found because now the family has answers.”

Zarcone said he and his wife have lived on the property since 2005 and they had the pond built five years ago. Zarcone said he went to the pond Wednesday morning to feed the fish and he noticed a shadow that he hadn’t seen before.

“I saw a square line and then I saw something that looked like a reed, but it turned out to be the antenna. At that point I decided to call the police and while I was a little embarrassed to even call, they were there in a matter of a few minutes.”

He said divers went in, found the vehicle and verified who it belonged to after checking the license plate.

After pulling the SUV from the water, investigators searched the area and found faint tire marks where the car had traveled before it entered the water, Zarcone said.

“The water usually goes down in the summer and that’s the only reason I saw it. If it had sunk a little deeper into the bottom, I don’t know when or if it would have been found,” Zarcone said.

Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.