Mission man's body found - Had been missing since Oct., 2005

By Ethan Smith - Leader Staff

The remains of a Mission man were discovered by a hiker last week, putting an end to questions about his fate, but opening an investigation into his death.

Dental records were used by state crime lab technicians to identify Rob Jensen, whose body was discovered by a hiker last Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 30, in the Mission Mountain range about five miles outside of St. Ignatius.

The Lake County Sheriff’s office is not releasing details of the cause of death, saying it could hurt their investigation at this point, although Undersheriff Jay Doyle said they will probably release that information in the near future.

“At this point we’ve elected not to disclose the cause of death,” Doyle said.

Jensen, 45, had been missing since Oct. 15, 2005, after a Mission farm family returned from vacation to discover Jensen, who was the farm caretaker, was gone. His Honda Civic was still at the farm, but the family’s Ford pickup was missing.

A hiker came across what he thought was human remains last week, and notified authorities at about 4:30 p.m.. Four Lake County Sheriff’s detectives were sent to the area, and working with Tribal officers, Tribal game wardens, and Mission police officers, the crews combed what Doyle said was about a 100-square-yard area.

Using a cadaver-sniffing dog, Yukon, who is handled by Deputy Becky McClintock, they located other remains in the area that could have been moved by animals, Doyle said. The area where Jensen’s body was found was a common grizzly bear area, he noted.

A reserve deputy was positioned at the scene that night to secure it, before investigators returned the following morning to continue searching for clues.

The remains were transported to the state crime lab in Missoula later Tuesday night, and the Sheriff’s office received a confirmation of Jensen’s identity on Friday morning. The discovery of his body closes one of three active missing person’s cases open in the county.

Ellen Sloan of Polson and Louie Stipe of St. Ignatius are still open cases, although two separate men with romantic ties to both women are in jail on unrelated charges. An inactive case, the 1984 disappearance of Father John Kerrigan, was ruled out immediately because the remains didn’t appear to be that old, Doyle said.

The Sheriff’s office is continuing its investigation into Jensen’s death. Jensen had opened a bike shop, Mission Bike and Board, in downtown St. Ignatius, and it had been robbed shortly before he disappeared.

“We have leads that have to be followed up on yet,” Doyle said.