Missing woman was likely paddleboarding alone on Hungry Horse Reservoir

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and assisting agencies continue to search for Emily Rea, who went missing in the Hungry Horse Reservoir area on July 16.

Searchers have spent more than 1,800 hours looking for her, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office.

Rea, 33, is 5-feet 5-inches tall with brown hair. She worked at The Skola, a private school in Whitefish.

Based on cell phone data, security camera footage, and Rea’s vehicle's location at the Riverside Boat Launch parking lot, it is believed Rea was alone when she put her paddleboard into the Hungry Horse Reservoir sometime after 8:30 p.m. at the Riverside Boat Launch, located 21 miles up the Southfork Road on the east side of the reservoir. 

Rea’s paddleboard was found upside down in the Flossy Creek area, more than two miles west of the Riverside Boat Launch, on the evening of July 17.  

Weather reports show a westerly wind on the reservoir July 16, consistent with the paddleboard's location. Her paddle was found stowed and assembled on the board. Her cell phone was not with the board and last pinged on a tower reachable on the South Fork Road between Martin City and the Riverside Boat Launch, with the time of the ping consistent with her travel from the last security camera sighting to the Riverside Boat Launch. 

The Flathead County Sheriff's Office has deployed multiple Search and Rescue units, including K9 teams, boat teams equipped with sonar and underwater robots, ground teams, Two Bear Air, drone teams, divers and more.  

The Forest Service, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Glacier National Park and several other agencies and independent resources have also assisted in the search.  

A Facebook post from an account called Search for Emily Rea writes: “Emily loves living in West Glacier and is always going on adventures with her dog Hugo. She is a fiercely independent 33-year-old woman and a force of nature in all the best ways. She is a fearless outdoors woman who works at the Skola school, an independent nature-based school for kids. Before settling down in Flathead Valley, she spent some summers set-net salmon fishing in Alaska, where she immersed herself and made deep lifelong connections to the Uganik and Kodiak communities. 

“Emily makes herself an integral part of her community; it’s in her nature and who she has always been. Always first to volunteer her time and efforts for others, she prioritizes and is committed to building deep relationships and making this world a genuinely better place, from her amazing laugh to her many actions of showing up for others.”