Missing man found dead in pickup truck at bottom of ravine - East Idaho News
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Missing man found dead in pickup truck at bottom of ravine

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POCATELLO — A Pocatello grandfather who’s been missing since Saturday is dead.

The Bannock County Coroner’s Office has confirmed that the body of Edward J. Girrard, 82, was found around 5 p.m. Thursday in his overturned pickup truck at the bottom of a ravine off West Tyhee Road northwest of Chubbuck.

Authorities said Girrard’s body was found by an area resident who then reported the location to the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office.

Girrard’s death remains under investigation, and Bannock County Coroner Kim Quick would not yet comment on when Girrard might have died or what might have been the cause of his death.

That information will be released following an autopsy but as of 8 p.m. Thursday emergency responders were still trying to remove Girrard’s body from the ravine.

Authorities said it appears that Girrard’s Toyota pickup left West Tyhee Road near Swanson Road and then overturned into the ravine. But Quick would not say that the crash was what caused Girrard’s death. A medical emergency such as a heat attack or hypothermia if Girrard was trapped in the vehicle overnight are other possibilities.

Bannock County sheriff’s deputies and search and rescue personnel responded to the crash scene and immediately shut down West Tyhee Road and a connecting section of Swanson Road so that authorities could work to remove Girrard’s body and begin their investigation into how he died.

Girrard had been reported missing by his family on Saturday afternoon after he failed to show up for a picnic at FMC Park.

Pocatello police said he was last seen around 2 p.m. Saturday putting fuel in his pickup truck at the Fred Meyer retail store on Yellowstone Avenue in Pocatello.

Girrard suffered from dementia and had been known to black out, but it’s unclear for now how these conditions might have factored into his death.

This story originally appeared in the Idaho State Journal. It is posted here with permission.

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