Body Of Cayla Danenberg, 21, Found More Than A Year After Vehicle Crashes Into The Salmon River
More than a year after the vehicle 21-year-old Cayla Danenberg was traveling in crashed into the Salmon River in Nampa, Idaho, her body has finally been found. KTVB reports that around 7 p.m. on May 17, 2016, Danenberg was traveling to Moscow in a 2004 Nissan Mazima with her roommate, Tiffany Maupin, 21, but the pair never made it to their destination.
Relatives say Danenberg and Maupin were students at the University of Idaho, but they were making plans to move back home. The pair had already signed a lease agreement for a new apartment.
However, authorities say a witness saw the Nissan veer off the road on US Highway 95 near Lucille before flipping and crashing into the Salmon River—the vehicle quickly submerged under water.
Emergency responders later arrived at the scene, but with the “high, fast water and dangerous conditions,” the dive team was unable to locate the vehicle or Danenberg and Maupin.
Several weeks later, a resident found Maupin’s body just six miles downstream from where the vehicle was located. Her body was taken to Trenary’s Funeral Home in Kooskia, but no further details were released.
Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings stated the vehicle was found in the Salmon River three months after the crash, lodged into the river bed just five miles north of Riggins. He went on to say that the car was covered in rocks, but there was no sign of Danenberg.
BREAKING: Coroner confirms skeletal remains found in Salmon River are those of Cayla Danenberg https://t.co/0M7rcWXBH6 pic.twitter.com/Olsjw1WaKy
— CBS2 News (@CBS2Boise) October 27, 2017
On Monday, October 23, hunters reported seeing skeletal remains on the bank of the Salmon River in the area of the bridge, near Rice Creek and Grave Creek Roads. When Detective Lieutenant Jerry Johnson, Lieutenant Doug Ulmer, and Coroner Cody Funke arrived at the scene, they discovered human remains that weren’t intact and it appeared to be an adult, but the sex was unknown.
Investigators suspected the remains to be those of the missing Nampa woman, but it wasn’t until late Thursday, October 26 that the coroner was able to make a positive identification through dental records, according to Idaho Statesman.
Danenberg’s remains were found a year and a half after the vehicle she was riding in crashed into the Salmon River.
Funke stated that Danenberg’s family has been notified, and he is hoping that this will give them some closure.
[Featured Image by Robin Tolman Danenberg/Go Fund Me]
