IDAHO COUNTY, Idaho — Pieces of bone found along the Selway River in North Central Idaho belong to a 21-year-old hunter who has been missing since the SUV he was riding in plunged into the fast-moving water four years ago.
Jessie Ferrieri of Mahopac Falls, New York, was one of six men in the vehicle when it flipped into the river in May 2018 in a remote backcountry area about 60 miles west of Darby, Montana.
Two of the hunters, who were from the state of Georgia, made it to shore. The bodies of two more, 21-year-old Koby Clark of Bozeman, Montana and 22-year-old Reece Rollins of Terrebonne, Oregon, were found in the Selway weeks after the crash.
But Jessie Ferrieri and his brother, Raymond Ferrieri, remained unaccounted for, even after investigators retrieved the sunken SUV from beneath the river's surface. The surviving hunters told investigators that they did not see any of the other men make it out of the water.
According to the Idaho County Sheriff's Office, a section of skull and three teeth were discovered near the Shearer Airstrip in August 2020. Caretakers at the Selway Lodge found another skull fragment downriver from that area a month later.
The bones were sent to the Idaho State Police Laboratory for DNA extraction and comparison, and were determined to belong to Jessie Ferrieri.
"ICSO again extends its condolences to the Ferrieri family," the sheriff's office posted.
Raymond Ferrieri remains missing.
The Idaho County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone rafting or kayaking the Selway River, or anyone backpacking or traveling alongside it, to keep an eye out for any additional human remains.
"If any unusual bones are found, please secure those items and immediately notify ICSO or Idaho County Coroner Cody Funke," the sheriff's office posted.
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