GREAT FALLS — Authorities have identified the Kalispell man whose body was found in the Missouri River near Great Falls.
Cascade County Sheriff Bob Edwards said Thursday that Graham Macker was found dead in the Missouri River near the Black Eagle Dam. Macker, 26, was listed as a walk-away from the Great Falls Pre-Release Center on Nov. 14 and was wanted for escape.
PPL Montana crews were breaking up ice near the dam when they discovered the body on Wednesday morning.
An autopsy revealed Macker died of drowning.
The death remains under investigation.
Macker was committed to the pre-release center for probation violations relating to charges of forgery and issuing bad checks in 2009. He pleaded guilty to both counts, and received a deferred sentence of two consecutive three-year terms under the custody of the Department of Corrections.
In 2012, he violated the conditions of the sentence and a District Court judge imposed the same sentence, with all time suspended. That sentence was revoked several months later when a judge ruled he’d again violated the conditions of his probation after he was treated for alcohol poisoning at a Kalispell hospital.
He was committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for six years.