Solving Cold Cases in Missoula County

This week, the Agenda takes on true crime in Missoula County. Since its inception in 2019, the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case unit has solved seven cases of homicides or unidentified remains.

The commissioners spoke with Ryan Prather, captain of the Detective Division at the Missoula County Sheriff's Office. Captain Prather also coordinates the volunteer Search and Rescue and Cold Case divisions, who work tirelessly for all county residents.

Thank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!

Transcript

Josh Slotnick: [00:00:10] Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the agenda with the Missoula County Commissioners. I'm Josh Slotnick and I'm here with my fellow commissioner and friend Juanita Vero. Dave Strohmaier is out this week. Actually, he's in Helena fighting the good fight on our behalf. Today, we're joined by Captain Ryan Prather of the Missoula County Sheriff's Office. Captain Prather is the captain of the Detective division, and he also coordinates search and rescue and the cold case unit. And today, we're going to be talking about all those things with Captain Prather. Yes. That means we are diving into true crime here today at Missoula.

Juanita Vero: [00:00:40] Wait first. Okay. What makes a case cold? What's the definition?

Josh Slotnick: [00:00:42] That's a great question.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:00:43] What makes a case cold is we don't have any more leads whatsoever to the case. And it's just kind of like at a stalemate. We've done everything that we can do, and we just don't have anything more to go on. We can turn a case into a cold case, you know, within a few years. So we are going to do everything we can and put as many resources. The new technology that's out there that we have today, compared to several years ago that we did not have. We're going to use everything we can. We kind of call it the tools in our toolbox to work a case to its end. And if we don't have any success, we're going to label it a cold case. And then we have a group of folks that are highly trained with a lot of experience. They pretty much take the case on from there for us.

Josh Slotnick: [00:01:24] So Cold Case is a it's an actual formal category. Like you put a case specifically it's in the cold case pile or file.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:01:32] When we say cold case we are specifically referring to unsolved homicides within Missoula.

Josh Slotnick: [00:01:38] Okay.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:01:38] That's helpful. That's the key.

Juanita Vero: [00:01:39] That's the key word okay.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:01:41] There are some missing persons cases and whatnot that the cold case folks work. But yeah, when we say cold case we're really referring to homicides.

Josh Slotnick: [00:01:48] So what is what is a day in the life of a person on a cold case look like what do you what do you do.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:01:53] So our cold case division, for those of you that do not know, it was formed back in 2019 by Sheriff T.J. McDermott and Captain Dave Conway, both of whom have since retired. They felt that there was a need for a cold case unit because we do have a couple. We have some cases that really need some attention, but we're just kind of at a standstill. So we formed this unit and it's made up of four volunteers. And these folks come from various backgrounds of law enforcement with an extensive history, mainly in the federal law enforcement area, but some also have local and state experience as well. But really, the day in the life of a cold case detective is volunteer. Yeah, volunteer.

Josh Slotnick: [00:02:33] Oh, man, that's a really important volunteer. Volunteers? Yes. So these are folks who are employees of the sheriff's department, and they're doing this on top of their other duties.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:02:42] No, they are not employees of the sheriff's office. They're volunteers, just like search and rescue members.

Josh Slotnick: [00:02:47] Okay.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:02:47] They're volunteering their time, their dedication, their commitment to the.

Juanita Vero: [00:02:51] Former law enforcement or.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:02:53] Former law enforcement who are retired.

Josh Slotnick: [00:02:55] And they're choosing to do this. Do they have to apply to you?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:02:58] Yes.

Josh Slotnick: [00:02:59] Okay.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:02:59] They got to apply. And we are always looking for new folks who have the experience, who are willing to help us out in cold cases.

Josh Slotnick: [00:03:08] What are some of the profiles of the folks who are on this committee in terms of their resumes, their past experience?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:03:13] Majority of them all have homicide experience, because, I mean, that's really what we're looking for when we're talking cold cases. We need help with homicides. Lots of experience there. We're talking 20, 30, 40 years of law enforcement experience all throughout the US. And then some even have experience in other countries working for federal agencies. So they do an amazing job.

Juanita Vero: [00:03:33] Well, going back to Josh's original question, what's the day in the life?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:03:36] Look, day in the life? Yeah, I got sidetracked for a second day in the life. There is a ton of paperwork they're going through.

Juanita Vero: [00:03:43] That doesn't sound very exciting. We got to make this enticing because we need folks.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:03:47] When they when they first get the case. I mean, there's boxes. And back then we didn't have, like the records management systems that we have today. Everything is a lot more categorized. It's together, more in sync, so to speak. They're pretty much going through boxes of old case files, not digital files, not digital. It's all, you know, typewriter, that kind of stuff.

Juanita Vero: [00:04:05] How old are some of these cases?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:04:08] Uh, we're looking at 1990s, early 2000. So 20, 25 plus years. Got it. A lot of their work is just putting the case together. You know, they always say another set of eyes, you know, just having another set of eyes look at these cases. [00:04:22] So they're going through lots of paperwork going through cases, the evidence. There's a lot of different things. And they're following up with people who were, you know, involved in this case 20, 25 years ago. Because what we've found is folks who didn't want to talk to us then they like to talk to you now. [00:04:38]

Josh Slotnick: [00:04:38]  [00:04:38]Wow. Wow. You know, what...do you think, what do you think psychologically? What's going on there? [00:04:42]

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:04:42]  [00:04:42]Maybe, you know, they want to help the families. They feel bad. They should have said something then they didn't, you know, and. [00:04:47]

Josh Slotnick: [00:04:47]  [00:04:47]So this this. [00:04:48]

Juanita Vero: [00:04:48]  [00:04:48]Might they have an opportunity? [00:04:49]

Josh Slotnick: [00:04:49]  [00:04:49]This might have been gnawing at them for decades. And now they just were waiting for somebody to pick up. [00:04:53]

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:04:54]  [00:04:54]Somebody. Somebody calls, somebody comes and talks to them. And I mean, it just kind of rolls downhill from there. There's a lot of legwork, lots of work that goes on behind the scenes. Again, it's just going through all the paperwork, trying to piece everything together. Another set of eyes. They're talking to the law enforcement officers that were involved in those cases back then, talking to different witnesses. [00:05:13] The big thing is the evidence is what was the evidence collected back then? Because DNA technology has evolved so much. Dna started in 1986, I believe, in the UK. That's right. Wow. That's where all pretty much started. That's when law enforcement started using DNA, and they got a conviction of an individual that killed a couple teenagers in the UK from this professor that put everything together.

Juanita Vero: [00:05:38] When was.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:05:38] It? And it's evolved.

Juanita Vero: [00:05:40] And when was this first available in Montana?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:05:43] I would say it's been available probably since like the late 80s or early 90s. The thing is, though, it has evolved over the years, the technology is getting better, the equipment.

Josh Slotnick: [00:05:52] So in the in the podcast world, true crime is the most popular. And in that genre of true crime, there are plenty of cases where the folks who are working on solving the case have been able to tap into DNA. That's part of these genealogy sites.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:06:08] So things like.

Josh Slotnick: [00:06:09] So like 23 Andme and they find a cousin or find a general match of the person and the person they're hoping to find. Do you guys make use of that kind of those sorts of popular genealogy genetics that.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:06:20] That has helped law enforcement in the past? Yes. We don't really use it a whole lot. We use the Montana State Crime Lab for help. And then we also use the anthropology department at the university. They're a huge help. Anthropology. Those folks over there.

Josh Slotnick: [00:06:34] What does an anthropology department do that would be helpful?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:06:37] They're dealing with skeletons, I think.

Josh Slotnick: [00:06:38] I think a lot of people don't know that anthropology. They think of like field research.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:06:42] Dealing with all I mean, they're dealing majority of their work. They deal with bones and they can extract DNA from the bones. Your teeth are going to be number one for DNA.

Josh Slotnick: [00:06:51] If you guys find bones, you might be able to figure out whose bones they were.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:06:55] Absolutely.

Juanita Vero: [00:06:55] Well, okay. How how does that work? Are you talking about teeth? You find some teeth? How do you know whose teeth they are? Or bones? Like, how do you even have information in a database to be matched?

Josh Slotnick: [00:07:06] Yeah, that's a great question.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:07:07] There are several different factors that come into play. If their DNA is already in the system they've committed, whether they've committed a crime or those sorts of things. Um, and we have DNA. We're using that as a reference sample. We can compare the DNA we have to the DNA that's already in the system. And a lot of times when you're convicted of a crime for like different felonies and whatnot, you are going to have your DNA and that is going to be in the system. Now, there's going to be times where we collect DNA. Well, the anthropology department do it state crime lab, and there will not be a match. There will not be a hit or anything like that. That's because that person's not in the system. We don't have a record of it. So what we have to do is we have to do legwork and go out and find that DNA to match it. The best way to put it is it's kind of like a fingerprint. It's a unique identifier to one person.

Juanita Vero: [00:07:56] So you have some old saliva that's 40 years old or old, swab a shirt and then a bit of of bone or dentin, and then somehow.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:08:05] It gets entered into a system and.

Juanita Vero: [00:08:07] Then.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:08:07] That like. Yep.

Josh Slotnick: [00:08:08] Wow. And those popular genealogy sites you don't look at because you could find somebody who was related to that person.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:08:15] We have our cold case folks have used the, uh, the websites in the past, and that has helped us. Yeah.

Juanita Vero: [00:08:21] Can you talk about any recently solved cases or and how they were solved or what would be appropriate?

Josh Slotnick: [00:08:27] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give us a story.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:08:29] I'd like to talk about our cases haven't been solved.

Juanita Vero: [00:08:32] Okay, sure.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:08:32] We need the readers. We need their help on that. Okay. Yep. Those are the ones. Uh, the Mr. Nelson case and Seeley Lake, Mr. Nelson? Yep. He was a teacher at the local high school. He was murdered. And I want to say it was in the 1990s.

Josh Slotnick: [00:08:46] 96?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:08:47] 1996? Yeah. It was a well known teacher. There is talk up there of a few different suspects. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot other than the fact that, um, he was very liked, well known person in the community. Uh, school teacher. And he was killed in his home via gunfire. And so we're currently working that case. We're also working the cheatham's. And that was a husband and wife that were killed up by Lake Inez. And that was in the early 1990s. Wow. Those are the two cases we have up in Seeley Lake that.

Juanita Vero: [00:09:17] Also gun shots. Yes. Okay.

Josh Slotnick: [00:09:19] Were there ever leads in these cases?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:09:21] Not many. Not many. And that's kind of why they went cold. Wow. But I mean, again, when leads come in, we're working them always having a new set of fresh eyes looking at these cases. Hey, maybe we missed something. What about this? What about that? What's important is the evidence that was collected back then. Because a lot of times, something. I mean, it's possible things could be missed, something could be forgotten about. But we're looking at that evidence and we can submit that evidence now to.

Juanita Vero: [00:09:48] Get.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:09:48] Different.

Juanita Vero: [00:09:49] Conclusions.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:09:49] Whereas back then.

Josh Slotnick: [00:09:50] We weren't.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:09:51] Able to.

Josh Slotnick: [00:09:51] Yeah. The technology's changed. So are there examples from cases you've solved where you used modern technology? Dna right now to solve a case that couldn't have been solved 25, 30 years ago.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:10:05] Yeah, we've solved seven cases, whether they were homicides or missing person. Unidentified human remain cases. We've solved seven since the inception of the cold case unit, and every single one of them was involving DNA.

Josh Slotnick: [00:10:19] Can you tell a story that kind of comes from one of those? You don't have to say anybody's names or anything just to describe to people how it works.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:10:25] Using the evidence and the items that were collected, whether it was, um, a knife or just anything like, like DNA is transferred several different ways. You know, saliva, touch, all that kind of stuff.

Josh Slotnick: [00:10:36] Um, if you cough on something, is there DNA there?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:10:39] Yeah. Yeah. Yep. But using what we collected and then we can submit that. And then if there's still questions, we if we believe who we think it might be, we can get reference samples from their family. And it's all that genealogy.

Josh Slotnick: [00:10:51] Do you need a warrant for something like that to get reference samples?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:10:55] Most cases, yes, but it depends. It just really it depends too, on the circumstances of the case, how you're going about getting it. Somebody could give you they'd want to give you DNA voluntarily. So. No, you don't need a warrant. Okay. But each case is a different, different set of circumstances. [00:11:09] Our cold case unit, they invest so much time into these cases, I don't think they half of them sleep at night because, I mean, they're just so involved. And their goal is to identify this person and identify who is responsible and what happened to him so they can give closure to the family. That's what our goal is to here at the sheriff's office. [00:11:28]

Josh Slotnick: [00:11:28]  [00:11:28]Closure to the family is important. [00:11:30]

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:11:30]  [00:11:30]And I think. [00:11:30]

Josh Slotnick: [00:11:30]  [00:11:30]Just generally speaking, justice is important. We want we want criminals held to account. [00:11:34]

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:11:35]  [00:11:35]And holding somebody accountable. Now, there have been cases where they have solved where the person responsible for that, they, you know, they died several years prior to us finding out their identity. [00:11:44]

Juanita Vero: [00:11:45]  [00:11:45]But at least to have that closure is so important. [00:11:48]

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:11:48] And that means.

Juanita Vero: [00:11:49] And the.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:11:49] Process.

Juanita Vero: [00:11:50] And how much you learn working the case. Yeah.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:11:52] And it means so much to the family.

Juanita Vero: [00:11:54] Yeah.

Josh Slotnick: [00:11:54] So we hear out there in the public that when there's an ongoing investigation, sometimes people are frustrated by the lack of detail they get. And it sounds like that lack of detail is intentional. Can you describe that?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:12:06] We want to be as transparent as we can here at the sheriff's office. If there is an immediate threat to public safety, we are not going to hold that information back. We're going to let the public know, hey, this is who you need to be looking for. This person is armed and dangerous. I mean, that's our number one priority is the safety. So we're not going to hold that information back. But there are times when we do not disclose certain information, you know, information about a case. And that's because of, you know, we're afraid maybe the witness could be tampered with. There could be intimidation. The case itself could the integrity of the case could be jeopardized. And that could cause a lot of issues for us going down the road, especially if we do end up taking somebody into custody, charging them, going through the court system. And then that could be battled and contested in court. That could create issues. So it's not that we don't want to, but there's a reason for everything. But but again, I mean, like I said, I can't stress it enough. If there is a public safety threat, we are going to get that information out as soon as we can. To the folks.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:03] Thanks. That's good. Good to know.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:13:05] But I mean, no, we've like I said, we're working on other cases too.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:08] Besides, so.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:13:09] Do.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:09] The folks who are on the cold case unit. Do they intentionally want to remain anonymous and not have not be? Are they? Do they have personal safety concerns where their anonymity is important?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:13:21] No they don't. If you go on to our website, if you go on to the Missoula County website, hit the sheriff's link. And then there's a cold case link as well. Their names and phone numbers are on there. They are great people. Okay. They just kind of fly under the radar. They're not looking for any kind of kudos or anything like that. They just want to come in, you know, do what they do and allow and show their expertise.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:41] So let's say if one of them figures something out like, oh, we need to talk to this person, they don't. Since they're volunteers, they no longer have arrest authority. How do they go from we need to talk to this person, to you having some folks showing up with badges at that person's door and bringing them for a conversation.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:13:58] So they are considered special deputies. So they do have um, they do have certain powers and they do they do carry a firearm depending on the threat level, the safety risk, they do handle some things on their own. I mean, they operate under the direction of the Missoula County Sheriff's Detective Division, so we will always have somebody with them if there is a specific threat or.

Josh Slotnick: [00:14:20] They're retired folks. So they might be 60 years old where they don't want to go to visit a house 20 miles down a gravel road all by themselves. You might want to bring somebody with them.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:14:32] That is correct. I mean, they always operate in twos. Um, they are highly proficient at what they do, and that includes shooting as well. I mean, they've been in this line of work for a long time, but they just keep us. They keep us informed. There are some things that we have to help them with.

Josh Slotnick: [00:14:46] And you can offer them staff resources.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:14:48] Absolutely. Yep. And like I said, I cannot say enough good things about them because.

Juanita Vero: [00:14:53] And the work must be so satisfying. But say, say more about how many folks do you I mean, are we still in need of folks?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:15:00] We have four right now. Uh, we have plenty of work. I mean, if somebody were to be interested in.

Josh Slotnick: [00:15:06] And they had the right background.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:15:07] Right having the right background.

Juanita Vero: [00:15:09] Besides being retired law enforcement. But what.

Josh Slotnick: [00:15:11] Is.

Juanita Vero: [00:15:11] That? What's the right background?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:15:12] Yeah. I mean, the right background is somebody who has investigative experience and someone who's done it for a long time. Okay. Preferably from bigger cities, because they, you know, they get a lot of experience with how busy they are down there. We really prefer homicide type experience. But any big persons crimes, cases, you know, we're always looking. And so if somebody is interested I've got I'll leave my phone number and everything else and we can get that out.

Juanita Vero: [00:15:37] And then if, um, someone thinks that they might have some an important tip or information on a cold case, how do they go about sharing?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:15:46] Absolutely. They can go to our website and there is a cold case link right off of our sheriff's office website. Our phone number is 406258 4810. Or somebody can call me directly if they have information regarding the case. And my number is 406258 4610.

Josh Slotnick: [00:16:03] Yeah. So, captain, if you wouldn't mind, as we're getting close to the end here, there's something else you believe people really should know about the detective unit, about cold cases. Anything in this kind of genre of information, please, let's hear it.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:16:16] Unfortunately, the wheels of justice turn slowly from time to time for different reasons. But I mean, just know that there are a lot of folks behind the scenes that are really working hard and quickly. We care about your cases. It's just like I said, though, things take time, you know, for whatever reason. But we're working on the cases, and our big goal is, is to bring justice and accountability to the folks that need it.

Juanita Vero: [00:16:39] You mentioned this earlier, the collaboration between other agencies. Yeah. Can you say more about that? Which agencies are you talking about or what what levels are?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:16:49]  [00:16:49]So the Missoula County Sheriff's Office is one of the premier sheriff's offices in the state of Montana. We're that way because well done. [00:16:56]

Juanita Vero: [00:16:56]  [00:16:56]Missoula County Sheriff's. [00:16:57]

Josh Slotnick: [00:16:57]  [00:16:57]Office.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:16:58]  [00:16:58]No, and I'm not just saying that we're that way because we have great support coming from you guys down. [00:17:04]

Juanita Vero: [00:17:04]  [00:17:04]And you guys, just you guys, the listeners, our citizens. [00:17:07]

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:17:07]  [00:17:07]And we've got we've got great support, we've got great folks that work for us, our technology that we have, the resources we have in our county, the equipment we have to work on cases and everything is some of the best. So we get a lot of folks from outside agencies, all the surrounding counties around Missoula especially that are looking for our help. They know that we have the resources, the technology, the expertise to help them out, and most times we're able to help them out. [00:17:35]

Josh Slotnick: [00:17:35]  [00:17:35]Our work is not just countywide in a sense. It's a little bit regional, correct? [00:17:39]

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:17:39]  [00:17:39]Yeah. Same with our search and rescue unit. We are well known for the good quality work that we do and the amount of people that we have and the resources we bring from search and rescue. We're continuously helping other counties. [00:17:51]

Juanita Vero: [00:17:51] And across state lines. I mean.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:17:53] Not necessarily state lines.

Juanita Vero: [00:17:55] Even for search and rescue.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:17:56] No, we primarily majority of our work, if not all of it, is stayed in Montana. Powell.

Josh Slotnick: [00:18:02] Mineral. Granite County?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:18:03] Yes. Yep. We've done a lot of work in Ravalli County. Lots of work in Granite County. Lots of work in Mineral County.

Josh Slotnick: [00:18:10] So the operator, you described the cold case unit as made up of professionals who are retired now, people who have the right experience, but they're volunteers. I know we have a really active search and rescue unit. We have to we are in the in the mountains, in the center of outdoor recreational activity. Those folks on our search and rescue team are volunteers too as well.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:18:30] That's correct. Yes.

Josh Slotnick: [00:18:31] And they're really busy. Yes. Yeah. Can you describe some of the kind of work they do?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:18:35] We're very busy. We have approximately 38 members on the unit and like 38. Wow. It's all volunteer. We put in a lot of time. We just got done with the mission up in the rattlesnake of a local Missoula resident.

Josh Slotnick: [00:18:47] Read about.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:18:48] That. Who's gone missing? And just in the last three days, we logged over 225 miles of searching alone up in the rattlesnake. So we're really busy there. Again, it's kind of like our detective division. We have a really good unit we're well known for. We've made a name for ourselves and a lot of folks are always looking for us for help, and we don't have a problem if we have the availability and the resources.

Josh Slotnick: [00:19:14] All volunteers.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:19:15] All volunteers.

Josh Slotnick: [00:19:15] How does that. How do 38 people get coordinated? How does that work?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:19:19] We have a.

Juanita Vero: [00:19:20] Structure.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:19:21] Just just like the sheriff's office. We have a structure in place.

Josh Slotnick: [00:19:23] Chain of command.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:19:24] So we've got a yep. Got a chain of command. We have a chief and assistant chief. Then it kind of branches down from there. There's different squads a unit is on. I mean, we're able to I mean, we do all kinds of missions.

Josh Slotnick: [00:19:34] Whether you guys can do snow fast water.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:19:36] Yeah, we do lots of ground. Majority of our searches are on land ground searches, but we do do a lot of swiftwater stuff. We're on the Clark Fork River quite a bit, uh, down in Mineral County a lot. And then we deal with a lot of snow, a lot of avalanche type conditions and whatnot. So it's a great resource to have in our community.

Juanita Vero: [00:19:56] And I think you were talking about this earlier about someone goes missing doesn't necessarily mean it's nefarious. Yeah. Can you yeah. Say more about that.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:20:05] We get a lot of calls where somebody does go, go missing. And unfortunately it's somebody who may just get sidetracked. They get lost, they lose their bearings, so to speak.

Juanita Vero: [00:20:16] Whether that's mental illness or terrain or weather.

Josh Slotnick: [00:20:19] Or out after dark in bad weather.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:20:21] And there's a lot of different factors that come into play. Like you just said, Juanita, the terrain or the weather, they could be having a medical condition. There's lots of different things that come into play. Nine times out of ten, these are all accidents. Unfortunate accidents that you know they do happen. Missoula is a very popular place for Recreators. As you guys know, lots of people come here for our mountains and for our rivers. And unfortunately with that, accidents do happen. And sometimes folks get themselves in trouble with that.

Josh Slotnick: [00:20:49] Staff of 38, are you all staffed up? If somebody hears this and says, man, I have great outdoor skills, I'd love to be part of that. Is there room?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:20:56] Absolutely. We have room. All right. So we meet the second Monday of every month at 6:00 at the Missoula County Search and Rescue Building. It's down off of Ernest, right down by the mall. And if somebody is interested, they just got to show up to a meeting, okay. They can, you know, show their interest and they've got to attend so many meetings and then they become a probationary member. Then they're a member. You get to receive a lot of great training. And you know what I mean? You get to learn it. You learn a lot, they teach you a lot. And most importantly, these folks are giving back to their community. Yeah. And there's nothing better than finding someone and bringing them home. That's kind of that's our that's our motto. At Search and Rescue, we're going to find you and we're going to bring you home.

Josh Slotnick: [00:21:35] Yeah, it's pretty ideal. So great.

Juanita Vero: [00:21:38] And okay, I guess before we close, is there anything you want to say about, uh, you mentioned the two cases up in Seeley, but.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:21:44] Yeah. So, uh, right now our cold case unit right now is working several different cases. We're working the two in Seeley Lake that I previously mentioned. We're working a double homicide that happened at the Riverside housing facility. The nursing home facility out on East Broadway.

Juanita Vero: [00:21:58] What year was that?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:21:59] That was in the early 90s. It was two female residents that lived there and one was murdered. And then the second one was murdered a couple of months later.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:09] Wow. Okay. Same facility.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:22:10] Same facility? Yep. Uh, we're also working a missing female case out of Ravalli County. We're helping reorganize all the paperwork for the Florence triple homicide.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:21] Oh.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:22:22] We're helping them with. We've got a guy that's just. He's a data collecting machine, so he's just kind of helping them reorganize all those case files.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:30] I've forgotten about that case. I didn't realize that was a cold case.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:22:33] More sets of eyes.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:34] Wow.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:22:35] And I'm trying to think if there was one more or not.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:37] What was the year of that? Florence?

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:22:39] Uh, 2001.

Josh Slotnick: [00:22:40] I remember when that was all over the media and the drawings and the hand drawings in the newspaper, and it was pretty scary.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:22:46] Yeah. Yes, it was, didn't it?

Josh Slotnick: [00:22:48] It was. Was there a costume involved? Remember? Like a.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:51] Hat. Hat and a trench coat.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:22:52] Trench coat? Yeah. Long trench coat. So then everybody walking down the street wearing a trench coat got stopped, you know, within that time. But, I mean, they're all listed on there. Yeah. Okay. I mean, the big thing, though, is just letting folks know that they can go on to our website and they can hit that link and they can learn. We have some information on there, but it's pretty vague. But they can learn about those cases and get a little bit more information.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:14] I'll have to check them out.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:23:15] Some have pictures on there, some don't. We're actually in the process of designing a new website for the department, so that'll be nice. Yeah.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:23] Well, uh, this is our favorite question. Well, one of our favorite questions, um, to end on, uh, if you come across any great books, nuggets of wisdom, anything you'd want to share with us.

Josh Slotnick: [00:23:35] Podcasts, anything you run.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:36] Across.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:23:37] I like to say I like to tell my folks, keep your head up. Keep pushing forward. The line is in sight. I like to tell the folks that work for me. You know, just keep keep your head up, keep pushing forward. Do you know what it is that you're after? That line is in sight.

Josh Slotnick: [00:23:49] Great. That's a good one to just hold on to.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:51] Yeah. I'm like, but I don't know which line.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:23:55] It's the goal line.

Josh Slotnick: [00:23:56] The goal line.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:57] The end.

Josh Slotnick: [00:23:57] Line.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:23:57] There is an end in sight. There is an end in sight.

Josh Slotnick: [00:24:00] Got it, got it. Hey. Well, thanks so much for coming to visit us and for all the great work you and your team do.

Capt. Ryan Prather: [00:24:07] Thank you for having me.

Juanita Vero: [00:24:09] I appreciate it. Thank you, thank you.

Josh Slotnick: [00:24:12] Thanks for listening to the agenda. If you enjoy these conversations, it would mean a lot if you would rate and review the show on whichever podcast app you use.

Juanita Vero: [00:24:20] And if you know a friend who would like to keep up with what's happening in local government, be sure to recommend this podcast to them.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:24:25] The agenda with the Missoula County Commissioners is made possible with support from Missoula Community Access Television, better known as MCAT, and our staff in Missoula County Communications Division.

Josh Slotnick: [00:24:38] If you have a question or a topic you'd like us to discuss on a future episode, email it to communications@missoulacounty.us.

Juanita Vero: [00:24:45] To find out other ways to stay up to date with what's happening in Missoula County, go to Missoula.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:24:53] Thanks for listening.