Human remains found in area where Montana woman went missing

A hunter discovered human remains in a remote area of North Idaho where a Montana woman reportedly went missing last year.

The Spokesman-Review reports the hunter found the remains Sunday near a mountain access road that traces the southeastern shoreline of Lake Pend Oreille.

Bonner County Sheriff’s detective Kurt Lehman says the discovery was made in the Lakeview area at the southeast tip of the lake and east of Farragut State Park.

That area was the focus of a search last year for Mirissa Serrano, of Lolo, Montana, who was 27 when she was declared missing on Sept. 14, 2017.

Lehman says the case is an active suspicious death investigation.

Serrano’s father, Joseph Serrano, confirmed to the newspaper that he had been communicating with detectives.

The remains have been sent to the Bonner County Coroner’s Office for identification.