UPDATE: Search continues for woman who reportedly fell into river

UPDATE 5/14/18 4:15 p.m. The search continues for a 23-year-old female who reportedly slipped on driftwood and fell into the Snake River late Wednesday night.

Police say they have not found any evidence of the woman or any witnesses to the incident.

Other than the reporting party who told police that the woman fell in the river, there have been no other witnesses who have come forward to tell police they witnessed the incident.

IFPD said the reporting party knew the woman and identified her when speaking to police.

IFPD detectives have been in contact with the woman’s family, so officials do believe the woman is indeed missing.

Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team searched the water on jet skis this weekend and resumed searching Monday with two jet skis and one boat with sonar.

“We’re not going to be stopping anytime soon. We’re working with the county who is searching on boats, they’re using sonar, they’re checking the banks and the dive team is working as well, they’re on jet skis. We’ve also used a drone and we expect that we’ll be able to do that again once we get the FAA’s authorization and our detectives are working with local businesses as well to see if there’s any video footage,” says Holly Cook, with IFPD.

Sheriff’s Office deputies and the volunteer-based Search and Rescue Team also resumed the search of the banks Monday.

Idaho Falls Power is searching the grates in the water as well.

So far there are no leads.

“We don’t have any evidence yet that this woman fell in the river. We’re working really diligently to be able to find that and we’re certainly treating this as if that did occur. So hopefully we find some evidence soon,” says Cook.

At this time, because the investigation is ongoing, police will not be releasing the name of the parties involved.

Police ask anyone who may have witnessed the incident to contact police at 208-529-1200.

UPDATE 5/11/18 8:20 a.m.: The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office says crews will suspend their underwater search efforts on Friday, because of the muddy, high water conditions, making it dangerous for divers.

Because of Friday’s winds, the drone is unable to fly overhead.

The Sheriff’s office confirmed crews will be conducting a surface search on jet skis while weather conditions improve.

Idaho Falls Police PIO Holly Cook confirmed no helicopters were used in the search Friday.

Cook asks anyone who has information on the incident or was near the river Wednesday around midnight to contact police.

UPDATE 6:10 p.m.: Search and rescue crews didn’t find evidence during their search Thursday of a reported incident of a 23-year-old woman who reportedly fell into the river.

According to Sergeant Karl Casperson who leads the Bonneville County dive team, 10 team members were deployed, and the team searched a five-mile stretch of the river several times using divers, two jet skis and three boats.

About 15 members of the volunteer-based Search and Rescue Team also searched the land area around the river. Idaho Falls Fire Department EMTs and Idaho Falls Power crews assisted with checking water grates.

Idaho Falls Police deployed the first official test flight of the department’s unmanned aircraft system (UAS) pilot program. IFPD deployed the drone for the purpose of the search only and for a period of two hours.

No evidence of the woman has been found yet, but the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office and Idaho Falls Police Department will continue to collaborate, investigate and search for the woman.

“We will be out here during the weekend until we find something,” said Casperson.

Casperson said they expect to resume the search Friday using jet skis.

UPDATE 10:10 a.m.:

Idaho Falls Police and the Bonneville County dive team are currently searching for evidence of a reported incident of a 23-year-old woman falling into the river.

Idaho Falls Public Safety Dispatch first received the report about a woman who slipped on driftwood and fell into the water on the south side of the Broadway bridge near the Marriott hotel around 11:40 p.m. Wednesday.

Idaho Falls Police and Idaho Falls Fire departments responded immediately and began searching the area.

The Bonneville County Search and Rescue Dive Team also responded and began searching for more than an hour, but the extremely cold water conditions, swift current and difficulty seeing in the dark caused the dive search to be suspended until 8:00 a.m. Thursday.

The search is currently underway as the dive team diligently searches for evidence of the incident.

IFPD detectives are investigating the report and checking resources in the area to obtain other information on this report. The investigation is expected to take some time to complete.

Law enforcement reminds you to be very careful near waterways.

ORIGINAL:

The Bonneville County Sheriff’s office is searching for a woman who fell into the Snake River Wednesday night.

Crews were called to the river just before midnight.

They were looking in the area between W Broadway St. and Panchari Dr.

Members of the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho Falls Fire and Idaho Falls Police Department responded.

The search will pick back up later Thursday morning with daylight.