Body found on shore of Whitefish Lake
A boat on Whitefish Lake. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot file)
The body of a Columbia Falls man was found last week on the shore of Whitefish Lake.
Timothy Allen Braaten, 51, was discovered just north of the Mackinaw Point area on the west side of the lake on Wednesday, Sept. 23, according to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. A vehicle owned by Braaten was also discovered crashed in the Beaver Lake area.
Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino said initial autopsy results from the Montana State Crime Lab indicate that the man died of hypothermia.
“The weather was in the 30s and it was rainy that night,” Heino said on Tuesday morning. “It appears he was out there at least overnight.”
The body was discovered by a passing boater who reported it about 4 p.m.
The sheriff’s office, Whitefish Police Department and Montana Highway Patrol also responded to calls regarding “suspicious circumstances” in the Beaver Lake area and Mackinaw Point the day prior.
Law enforcement officers discovered a vehicle crashed next to a gate on North Beaver Lake Connector Road that was later found to be registered to Braaten, Heino said.
“The car was about a quarter-mile from the body at the lake,” Heino said. “It’s thick timber and varying terrain in there.”
The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate the case.