Search Scaling Back For Montana Motorcyclist Who Vanished On Road Trip In Idaho

Idaho officials are downsizing their search for a Montana motorcyclist who vanished Sunday while on a Western states motorcycle trip with two friends.

“Over the coming days, the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office will be downsizing their search but will continue to have deputies monitor specific areas,” says a Thursday statement by the agency.

No debris has surfaced on the Lochsa or Clearwater rivers near where he disappeared, but some divers will be searching the rivers going forward and deputies will be monitoring specific areas, the statement adds.

Zachary DeMoss, 24, of Victor, Idaho, was traveling with his friends Devlin Zarn and Aly Phan on his black Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 motorcycle, according to Phan’s account of his disappearance, which she posted Sunday to Facebook along with an urgent plea for help finding him.

Phan and Zarn lost track of DeMoss after they stopped at a saloon in Kooskia, and DeMoss told the pair to get a head start since he’s a more experienced rider, according to Phan’s post and Thursday interview with Cowboy State Daily.

DeMoss’ employer notified the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office of the missing motorcyclist one day later, Monday, according to the agency’s Thursday press release.

Dispatchers gathered a description of DeMoss and of his motorcycle and sent a deputy to search the area of milepost 135 on Highway 12, where DeMoss’ bike was reportedly last seen parked, without him on it.

Deputies and the Idaho County Sheriff’s Posse searched the area along with DeMoss’ family and friends all day Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Idaho County and state agents continued the search with DeMoss’s loved ones along the Highway 12 river corridor, covering 60 miles to the northwest and 39 miles to the east of the pullout where he was last seen, says the statement.

Searchers broke into multiple teams and scoured both sides of the highway on foot along the 99-mile stretch. Some searchers brought drones to harder-to-view areas. Life Flight also flew over the river corridor, says the sheriff’s statement.

Into The Deep

Some parts of the highway have steep shoulders that drop off suddenly into deep pools, said Phan.

“We tried just walking down there — you can’t even really walk,” she said, adding that searchers have been focusing on the river side of the highway, but are searching both sides just in case.

DeMoss’ parents have been organizing the civilian search effort, Phan said.

“We haven’t stopped since we lost him,” she said, urging others to join the search, especially with authorities scaling back.

Idaho County dispatchers worked with DeMoss’ cellphone company to ping his phone, but the company said the phone was not hitting a cell tower, says the statement.

Investigators viewed the state’s highway weather cameras, which take photos every 15 minutes, but deemed those photos unusable.

“There was also no evidence located indicating a crash had occurred,” says the statement.

The statement thanks the civilian searchers, Idaho State Police, Fish and Game, Transportation Department; the sheriff’s Posse, Missoula Life Flight, and Finley’s Tree Service.

“We would also like to share our deepest sympathy for Zachary’s family for what they are currently experiencing,” says the statement.

Back At The Saloon

Phan, Zarn and DeMoss stopped at Doreen’s Southfork Saloon in Kooskia, Idaho, on Sunday afternoon to stretch their legs, Phan said. They had “maybe two beers” and hung out with the locals.

It was the last time anyone saw DeMoss or that his credit or debit card was used, according to Phan’s post.  

DeMoss lingered at the saloon and told his friends to get a head start on Idaho’s Highway 12 since he’s the more experienced rider. He also drives quickly, “like a bat out of hell,” Phan said.  

Phan’s said the bar owner has since told her that DeMoss did not linger very long after his companions left.

Out on the highway, “He passed us going pretty fast,” said Phan.

Phan said she and Zarn have asked DeMoss repeatedly to slow down because they almost wreck trying to keep up with him.

Phan and Zarn saw DeMoss’ Vulcan pulled off the road on Eagle Mountain Trailhead at about 4:30 that afternoon. They stopped at the next pullout to wait for him, but after five minutes assumed DeMoss hadn’t seen them, and they turned back to the trailhead, Phan’s post says.

When they got there, DeMoss’ bike was gone, and there was no sight of him either.

They assumed he’d turned back to find them, but they were low on gas with their back tire starting to show threads, Phan wrote. They waited at Eagle Mountain Trailhead for two hours, left a large and noticeable note in the pullout’s gravel then continued on to Lolo, Montana, as the three had planned.

They waited at the Cenex gas station at Lolo for more than an hour, flagging down cars and bikers for any information on DeMoss.

A friend joined the pair and picked them up in his car so they could continue searching. They saw no sign of DeMoss or a bike accident, says Phan’s post.

They checked his home in Victor, Montana, tried his phone and have been searching for him all week, without results.

He Wasn’t Depressed

DeMoss had planned the trio’s bike trip himself, said Phan. They were to start in Kalispell, Montana, meet at DeMoss’ parents’ house in Warm Springs, cut through Idaho and go to Olympia, Washington, where Phan’s family lives.

They descended the Oregon coast just past the California border, then turned back to loop through Oregon to Idaho, Phan said.

The plan was to meet up at Lolo after the visit to Kooskia, she recalled.

Though DeMoss had discussed potential big career changes ahead, he did not seem depressed during the trip, said Phan.

“He was really excited,” she said. “It was great to spend time with friends and ride. He was in a really good mindset the entire trip.”

Tribal Police Not Called

Though Kooskia is within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation, tribal police are not involved in the search, Nez Perce tribal police Detective Michael Erickson told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.

That’s because DeMoss’ last known sighting was several miles east of the reservation’s border, he said.

“We’re happy to help out if Idaho County reaches out and needs the resources from us,” he said. “They’re not requesting our assistance at this time.”

The Missoula County Sheriff’s public information officer did not immediately respond to a Friday voicemail request for comment.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.