A man found floating in the Cannonball River near the Dakota Access Pipeline on Sunday was identified as 35-year-old DAPL protester Damjan Nedelkovski. Nedelkovski, of Glendale, California, was reported missing by his stepbrother on November 16. His stepbrother filed the missing person report with the Glendale Police Department, although family and friends had been in contact with Nedelkovski after he had left to join the water protectors at the Oceti Sakowin camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation on the Cannonball River.
On October 28, Damjan Nedelkovski had been stopped by police in South Dakota. He told the police that he was headed to North Dakota to the pipeline protest camps, police report. The next day, he reportedly had contact with family and friends, but that was the last time he was heard from. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said no foul play is suspected, but some people following the developing story are asking for more answers.
Morton County authorities say that the formal cause of death is still pending. They report that no trauma has been found on Nedelkovski's body. Law enforcement said that he could have died any time between October 29, 2016 and April 9, 2017. The vehicle that Nedelkovski had rented to drive to North Dakota was found at the Oceti Sakowin camp when it was cleared by authorities on February 23. The vehicle was impounded at that time. Many Inquisitr readers following the progression of events at the water protectors' camps remember February 23 as the day 46 pipeline protesters were arrested for refusing to leave the camp. The New York Times reported that most of the water protectors had packed up their vehicles and left on February 22, but some left on February 23 by crossing the presumed frozen Cannonball River.
Damjan's body was found April 9 "near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball Rivers, near the site of the Standing Rock encampments," Native News Online reported.
