Body of missing hiker found days later in icy Missouri River, officials say

The body of a man who was apparently hiking when he disappeared was found in the back channel of the icy Missouri River, officials say.

Roy Reichle, 61, of St. Helena, Nebraska, was reported missing the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 15, according to a news release from the Missouri National Recreational River. It is believed he was hiking the south shore of the Missouri River — about a mile and a half upriver of the Meridian Bridge — when he vanished.

Three days later, at about 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 18, a body was seen near the Highway 81 bridge between Nebraska and South Dakota, sparking a “multi-agency search.”

Reichle’s body was found and pulled from a “hole in the ice on a back channel off the river” at 12:30 p.m., officials say.

The Missouri National Recreational River, in Nebraska and South Dakota, is part of the National Park Service.

“Two free flowing stretches of the Missouri make up the National Park,” according to its website.

This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Body of missing hiker found days later in icy Missouri River, officials say."