Remains found in Lakeview identified as Mirissa Serrano; case ruled a homicide

The remains of a woman found last month near Lakeview, Idaho, have been identified as those of Mirissa Serrano, a Lolo, Montana, woman reported missing last year. Her death has been labeled a homicide by the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office.

A hunter found Serrano’s body on Sept. 26 near U.S. Forest Service Road No. 278 east of Lake Pend Oreille. Serrano was reported missing in that area in September 2017, and search and rescue missions had failed to find her.

She was last reported seen with Danny H. Neep, 62. The two met at a bar in Lolo on Sept. 9, 2017, and Serrano, then 27, asked to ride with him to Spokane, according to Neep, who spoke to The Spokesman-Review last year while in jail.

Serrano’s father, Joseph, had been in contact with his daughter, a diagnosed schizophrenic, and last received a text from her on Sept. 14.

According to Neep’s account, after arriving in Spokane, he invited Mirissa Serrano to go with him to a cabin in the Lakeview area where he did maintenance work. She agreed, he said.

Neep said Serrano changed her mind during the drive in the woods and said she wanted to return to Montana. They slept in his truck on Sept. 11, he said, and she left while he was asleep.

He filed a missing persons report on Sept. 16, and because of an outstanding warrant from Kootenai County, he was arrested.

He said he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

Detectives searched the cabin where Neep stayed.

Neep is currently in the Idaho State Correctional Center near Boise, charged as a felon in possession of a firearm, and will be eligible for parole in February 2020.