“Search and rescue operations are under way right now,” said Mineral County Sheriff Hugh Hopwood. “We have a helicopter in the air, people in patrol vehicles checking the Fish Creek area, and we have a boat in the (Clark Fork) water.”
Cyril Kenneth Richard, 22, a student at the University of Montana, was booked at the Missoula County Detention Facility on Thursday at 6 p.m. on felony charges of deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence, according to the jail roster. He remains jailed in lieu of a $50,000 bail, but has not yet been officially charged.
“We’ll have to see if Mother Nature is going to be on our side,” Hopwood said.
Missoula police began piecing together the evidence around 5:50 a.m. Thursday, when a resident of the Copper Run Apartments, located off Mullan Road on Great Northern Avenue, called 9-1-1 to report the blood trail.
The caller said she was getting ready for work and noticed a man “cleaning something up” on the balcony outside, said Sgt. Travis Welsh. The caller then went outside and discovered what looked like a bloody drag trail.
The rust-colored path led away from the front door of Richard’s apartment, along a walkway and down several flights of stairs, then disappeared at an empty parking space facing Mullan Road.
When police traced the blood back to the apartment, where an injured man, Richard, appeared at the door. He was treated at a local hospital for injuries, none of which were life-threatening. The injuries were not the source of the blood trail.
Missoula police officials and a prosecutor are holding a press conference at 1:30 p.m. Friday, and Richard is slated to make his initial appearance in Missoula County Justice Court at 2:30 p.m.
Watch for continued updates to this story on Missoulian.com and in Saturday’s Missoulian newspaper.
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