Investigators looking into St. Ignatius murder, arson

An investigative team is looking into the arson fire that occurred early last Thursday morning in which the body of a St. Ignatius man was found, the victim of an apparent homicide.

Members of the St. Ignatius fire department responded to 1380 Mission Dam Homesites on July 7 at 4:20 a.m. where they discovered a trailer on fire and the body of Harold Mitchell, Jr., 73, inside. Mitchell's body was sent to the state crime lab in Missoula on Friday, accompanied by Lake County Undersheriff and coroner Mike Sargeant and lead investigator Jay Doyle, and an autopsy revealed no soot in Mitchell's throat or lungs, indicating he had stopped breathing before the fire started, according to the Sheriff's office.

Investigators originally thought the fire was started accidentally, but the autopsy showed otherwise. The autopsy revealed Mitchell's cause of death, but the Sheriff's office isn't releasing that information in an effort to aid the investigation.

"We went through the crime scene on Thursday and Friday, and we've had briefings on what has been done and what needs to be done, but there's still a lot of legwork left," Sargeant said. "He was dead before the fire started though — there's no doubt about that."

Sargeant said the Sheriff's office has fielded a number of leads over the weekend from Mitchell's neighbors and others. Mitchell was known to have a large amount of cash on hand, but Sargeant said it's too early to speculate on a motive.

"As far as being a neighbor, he was very friendly. I didn't know that he had any enemies, but I know he had a lot of money," said neighbor Ed DuBois, who described Mitchell as someone who kept to himself.

A "major case" team will lead the investigation. The team is made up of personnel from the Sheriff's office, Tribal police, the county attorney's office, state fire marshall's office, and the county arson investigative team, which includes members of the Polson Fire Department.

Crimestoppers reward money has been provided to aid in the investigation. Anyone with any information can contact Crimestoppers at 883-7309 or toll free at 888/883-7309. Callers can remain anonymous, but could be eligible for a cash reward if their information leads to a conviction.

A full obituary for Mitchell appears on page B14.