Police believe they have found the body of a former Pocatello man missing since Monday and two other Pocatello men are being held in a murder investigation.
Nathan Fries, 23, was reported missing Monday by his father after he failed to show up for work in Portland Ore. Police have arrested Jason Paul Huff, 25, and Timothy Allen Colucci, 24, in connection with Fries death.
Neither man has been charged, but they are being held at the Ada County Jail.
The three men all grew up and lived in Pocatello until recently. Fries and Colucci both went to Highland High School and Huff went to Pocatello High School.
Meridian police Lt. Bob Stowe confirmed on Thursday that Colucci and Huff led police to a body buried in a shallow grave near a campsite in Baker County, Ore.
Stowe said if they had not led police to the body, it would have been "some time" before the it was discovered.
"Right now the charges are pending," Stowe said. "We expect to file charges tomorrow."
Police said Huff and Colucci left the house and didn't return after Meridian police went there Monday to check on Fries, Stowe said.
Stowe said that evidence in the house led police to believe Fries had "met with foul play."
Fries
Police found blood in the house, but Stowe could not say whose blood it was. He said they had not recovered a murder weapon and had not yet determined the cause of death.
Stowe also declined to release details about the condition of the recovered body. He said an autopsy would be performed today to try and confirm the identity of the body and the cause of death.
Police found Huff and Colucci about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday near the intersection of Fairview Avenue and Eagle Road in Meridian.
Police arrested Colucci on a Bannock County warrant and detained Huff pending further investigation.
The three men were roommates in a house that Fries had recently purchased in Meridian. Fries worked for Columbia Helicopter in Portland Ore. and was often gone from the house for extended periods of time.
Nathan's father, Mike Fries, said Colucci and Huff had been living with Nathan Fries since he bought the house about a month ago.
Mike Fries said his son had known Colucci since they were in grade school, and that he had met Huff while working at Wal-Mart.
"When he bought this house, these guys moved in with him," Mike Fries said.
"These guys were taking advantage of him. They were supposed to pay half of his mortgage, but I don't think he ever got a dime out of them."
Mike Fries said Nathan came home to Meridian from Portland over the weekend, and that's when things probably went bad.
"I think everything came to a head, there was an altercation and he wound up getting killed in his own house," he said. "He flew into Boise on (Saturday) All of this transpired on (Sunday.)"
A message from Columbia Helicopter that Nathan had not showed up for work prompted Mike Fries to file a missing person report Monday.
Mike fries said that the news that his son's body may have been found was shocking, but not unexpected.
"Things just weren't making sense," Fries said. "I suspected this from Tuesday on."
Nathan's older sister Marisa Nelson said she also feared bad news.
"When we knew he hadn't showed up for work, we kind of prepared ourselves for the worst," she said. "We knew something was drastically wrong, because he wasn't that way."
Nelson described her brother as an avid hunter and fisherman who loved the outdoors.
"He was just a normal Idaho country boy," Nelson said. "He was a good guy. He would help anyone out. That's what got him in trouble."
Nelson said her brother had done well for himself, managing to buy a $300,000 house and a new truck, even though he was only 23. Nelson attended the aviation mechanic program at ISU before getting a job as a civilian helicopter mechanic with Columbia Helicopter.
She said she had not yet tried to explain what had happened to her brother to her two youngest children.
"He loved my kids and they loved him. They don't really understand," she said. "My five year old says he is a Jesus, like grandma."
Colucci's uncle, Gordon Colucci, said he was not surprised that Timothy got into trouble, but that he did not expect anything like this.
"He was hanging out with a bad crowd," Gordon Colucci said. "I guess that is what happens when you hang out with people like that."
He said people had told him that Timothy was hanging out with the wrong people and that he was going to get in trouble.
"He's a good kid. His mother died when he was young and his dad wasn't around much," Gordon Colucci said. "That's no excuse for this kind of thing though."
Huff's mother Cleo Huff said tearfully they were aware that Nathan had been missing and that police had contacted them earlier in the week, but that they had not yet heard from Jason.
Cleo Huff said the three had known each other for several years.
"All I can say is that I am grief stricken for Nathan's family," she sobbed. "Nathan was a good kid."
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