Searching for answers

HOPE - Cadaver-detecting dogs picked up scents in Lake Pend Oreille and the shoreline on Sunday during a search for a Bonner County man who was reported missing.

Jeremy Robert Heckert was last seen on a boat northwest of the Hope boat basin. A witness told dispatchers that Heckert jumped into the water without a life jacket and never resurfaced, according to sheriff's officials.

Dispatchers received a call about the missing man at 12:40 p.m. on July 10, according to the call log.

Marine patrol deputies and divers attempted to locate Heckert, but were unsuccessful. The rocky and steep shoreline between Trestle Creek and the boat basin has been the subject of daily patrols, but there has been no sign of Heckert. A side-scanning sonar from Kootenai County was also used in the searches, but found no sign of Heckert.

On Sunday, handlers from Spokane and Priest Lake search-and-rescue teams searched the shoreline while another dog aboard a johnboat searched the surface of the lake for the scent of a cadaver.

Sheriff Daryl Wheeler said the dogs picked up scents on the lake and upland terrain.

"They are pretty convinced that Jeremy is out there," Wheeler said on Monday.

Wheeler said the case is currently classified as a death investigation.

Heckert was reportedly fishing with another man when he went overboard, according to his sister, Melissa.

"We know that Jeremy wasn't a great swimmer. He goes fishing on boats a lot, but swimming from the boat is not something he does," Melissa Heckert said.

Melissa Heckert said questions are piling up about her brother's disappearance, including his boating companion, whom she declined to identify. She said the man stated that he helped Jeremy Heckert remove his pants and boots, something her brother simply would not have allowed.

Melissa Heckert said she has also been told that the man has obtained legal counsel and put his home up for sale.

Wheeler declined to say if there was a person of interest in the disappearance but said investigators are pursuing the truth of the matter, not just a conclusion that allows them to close the case.

"At this point we're fact-finding. We want to find the reason why he went into the water and find out if there's any other suspicious activity or circumstances in his death," said Wheeler.

Wheeler said a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office side-scanning sonar and a remotely-operated vehicle will be deployed today in the area where the dogs detected the scent of a cadaver.