On April 23, 2018, Nampa Police received a call for a missing family member who had gone fishing on April 22. He had left early in the morning and had recently purchased a “Cataraft” that he had not yet had any experience with.
Later in the day on April 23, Nampa Police received a second missing person call of another fisherman. Police learned that the two men had gone fishing together on the previous date. Family members became concerned when neither showed up at home and both missed work today.
The missing men are 32-year-old Wade Osterhout and 48-year-old Larry Brewer. Both are Nampa residents. They were traveling in a red 1997 Ford Ranger single cab pickup, license plate 2O67821. Investigative efforts show the last cell phone tower one of their phones connected in the area of Sommer Camp Road and the area of Jump Creek and Highway 95, both in Owyhee County. Since they were reported missing in Nampa, the Nampa Police Department is lead on the investigation.
Both men were fishing out of vessels identified as “Catarafts”. Pictures of similar crafts are attached to the release. Also attached is a picture of a vehicle similar to the truck the men were last seen in.
Due to the remote area of the last possible locations, Nampa Police have asked the Idaho wing of Civil Air Patrol to assist in searching the area for the men, the truck and the rafts. The Civil Air Patrol is a branch of the United States Airforce Rescue Coordination Center that assists local agencies with search and rescue efforts.
Nampa Police would like to thank the Owyhee County Sherriff’s Office, the Canyon County Sherriff’s Office, the Homedale Police Department, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office and the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office with their continued assistance in this investigation. At the current time, no search efforts have turned up any evidence to the missing men’s whereabouts.
The Nampa Police Department would like to ask the public for any assistance in helping to locate the missing men. Anyone with any information on their whereabouts or if they remember seeing the truck or the rafts, is asked to please call Detective Palfreyman at 208-475-5717 or the non-emergency phone number at 208-465-2257.