Body found in Cd'A River
<p>Shoshone County Fire District 1 personnel carry a body discovered in the middle of the Coeur dÕAlene River to shore Thursday afternoon. The body Ñ found by an Osburn resident Ñ appears to be Warren Peter Trexler, who has been reported missing since early March, police said.</p>
OSBURN - What began Thursday as a journey through a drainage tube to find fool's gold ended with the grim discovery of a dead body.
The body - believed by police to be that of Warren Peter Trexler, who for the last several weeks has been reported missing - was found Thursday afternoon in the Coeur d'Alene River north of Osburn.
Osburn resident Michael Schneider, along with the 15-year-old niece of his roommate, walked through a drainage tube that cuts underneath Interstate 90 around 4 p.m. to inspect rocks along the river for pyrite and quartz.
But once Schneider reached the top of a gravel embankment, his afternoon took a turn.
"My automatic thought was getting [my roommate's niece] home because I knew it was a body," Schneider said as Shoshone County Fire District 1 crews transported the body to an ambulance. "I was just walking around and saw it lying in the water."
Schneider said he discovered the body in the middle of the river face down and washed up on an embankment of rocks.
The Shoshone County Sheriff's Office, a District 1 ambulance and funeral service vehicles responded to Nuchols Gulch Road, which runs parallel to the river for a short stretch in Osburn.
Schneider, who said he was not able see the body's face, described it as that of an older male who was fully clothed.
"I wouldn't say it had been in the water for a few days," he said. "I'd expect to see more shredded clothes."
Shoshone County Sheriff Mitch Alexander said he found Trexler's identification with the body. Dispatch received a call about the discovered body at 4:47 p.m.
Alexander said he also asked County Coroner Lonny Duce to complete an autopsy. A cause of death was not immediately determined as of press time.
Police said Trexler does not have family in Shoshone County.
Trexler, 82, was first reported missing by his landlord, Karen Tomich, on March 13. Trexler had been renting an apartment on Hotel Street in Wallace for the last three months. He was known to use a bike for transportation, the sheriff's office said in a press release issued last month while attempts were made to locate him.
But upon arriving at Trexler's apartment when attempting to make contact, police discovered his bike inside.
Trexler also reportedly hitchhiked around the county, police said.