Remains of woman missing since 2004 found near Coeur d’Alene

Remains found in a wooded area near Coeur d’Alene have been identified as 34-year-old Christine Lott, a Priest River woman who had been missing since 2004.

According to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, Lott’s remains were located along a Forest Service road in February 2016. The discovery was kept confidential, the Sheriff’s Office said, until her husband could be interviewed by detectives.

The death of Lott, a mother of three, is being investigated as a homicide.

When asked if detectives had a suspect in the case, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dennis Stinebaugh said: “To protect the integrity of an old case, we are not providing further information at this time.”

Lott was last seen the morning of March 25, 2004 in front of Mitchell’s IGA in Priest River after an argument with her husband, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office said. She is reported to have entered a red 1990s Ford pickup truck with Washington plates.

Police say her husband, Steve Lott, waited two days to report his wife’s disappearance. He moved to Arizona with two of their children shortly afterward.

Christine Lott’s mother, Lucille Kucera, told The Spokesman-Review in 2004 that her daughter’s disappearance is uncharacteristic and that she would never leave her three sons.