Chinese Wall bones sent to coroner

A search party of 27 people scoured an area near the Chinese Wall in the Bob Marshall Wilderness last week looking for missing soldier Noah Pippin.

The searchers found some bones, but Lewis and Clark Sheriff Leo Dutton said last week they weren't sure if they were human bones. Dutton said the bones would be turned over to the Lewis and Clark County coroner for examination.

"We're not convinced they're human," he said. "We're not convinced they're not."

Pippin, 30, of Michigan, traveled late last summer to Hungry Horse, Martin City and then into the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. A California National Guard soldier and ex-Marine, Pippin was supposed to report for duty in San Diego but never arrived.

Boy Scouts recently found some clothes near the Chinese Wall and reported their finding to the Flathead County Sheriff's Department. Flathead, in turn, gave the information to the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Department, since the Chinese Wall is in their county.

Pippin was apparently last seen by hunters in mid-September last year at My Lake. He apparently told them he was heading across a section of the Chinese Wall that has no trail.

He also reportedly had a .38-caliber pistol on him. Dutton said the handgun wasn't found in the search.

Dutton said last week he hadn't determined whether searchers would go back into the Bob again. The search did prove fortuitous for one hiker.

Searchers came across a diabetic man, Kevin Latshaw, of Lake Orion, Mich., whose insulin pump had failed.

There was no way the man could hike out on his own, so he was transported out by the same helicopter used to shuttle searchers into the wilderness, likely saving the man's life, Dutton said.