Stolen Missoula Vehicle Recovered From Bitterroot River

A truck stolen from a salvage yard in the 10,000 block of Garymore lane over the weekend was finally found on Wednesday, submerged in the Bitterroot River off of Big Flat, but officials are still searching for a suspect.

"Over the weekend we had two vehicles reported stolen in Missoula County," said Missoula County Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer Brenda Bassett. "The first vehicle was found within a few hours of it being reported, but the second vehicle surfaced after we got a call into 911 that some floaters saw it on the river. Deputies went out and located the vehicle, which looked like it had been launched down a 100 yard embankment."

This wasn't the only stolen vehicle from the same location over the weekend, however, deputies located the other vehicle within a few hours after it was reported missing. Bassett says getting the truck out of the river was a tough job.

"Search and Rescue came out, just to make sure nobody was injured," Bassett said. "It took quite a long time to get that vehicle out of the river. It was very heavily wooded, and it had actually drifted downstream a little from where it was launched off. The tow company and Search and Rescue did an awesome job in being able to get it back up."

The truck was apparently launched from a private access road on the west side of the Bitterroot River near Kona Ranch Road.