At around 4pm on Saturday, the Worden Volunteer Fire Department responded to call by a group of people fishing on the Yellowstone River near Worden claiming to have discovered a body floating on the river’s north bank near North 22nd Road. The Fire Department located the body and used a privately-owned boat to recover the body at roughly 6pm. Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder was not immediately available for comment, but Worden VFD Chief Lance Taylor confirmed that the Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating the situation. The only other information Taylor was able to give was that it was a male body, but as of that point he had yet to be identified.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Linder released a press release saying that an autopsy has been completed and that there were no signs of foul play; the case would be being treated as an accidental death. The Sheriff’s Office also identified the deceased, but as of press time a name had not been released. The investigation is still ongoing, and the Sheriff’s Office says that more information will be released in coming weeks.
Bodies show up in the Yellowstone River at an average rate of 1-2 per year. With its brutal undercurrents, the Yellowstone is rated as one of the most dangerous rivers in the US. Just last year two bodies were pulled out of the water between April and July; one in Livingston and one in Two-Moon Park in Billings. During the summer when the river rises, people should use extreme caution when boating, kayaking, and fishing and to safely float the river it is advised to wait until the water levels have gone down a bit later in the year.
