A 37-year-old man from DeBorgia, Mont., who was a suspect in the rape of a 14-year-old girl, died of an apparent suicide Friday afternoon in Coeur d'Alene.

The man had fled on foot Wednesday from Shoshone County deputies, police reported.

Shoshone County dispatch received a call at 6:58 a.m. Thursday from the U.S. Forest Service Silver Valley office in Smelterville about a stolen vehicle. Initially, police were unsure if Baldwin was responsible for the theft. It wasn't until Friday at 4 p.m. that Idaho State Police in Coeur d'Alene notified deputies that the truck had been located and that Baldwin's body was "found with the vehicle," according to a press release from the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office.

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office, in a news release issued Friday, said that they discovered the vehicle south of Coeur d'Alene on U.S. 95 near milepost 421. An investigation there revealed that Baldwin died of an apparent suicide.

Mineral County Sheriff Ernie Ornelas, who personally assisted in the search for Baldwin near Wallace this week, said the alleged rape occurred Wednesday in the late afternoon and involved a 14-year-old girl from Mineral County. Ornelas said the victim confirmed to police that Baldwin committed the crime.

The Mineral County attorney was in the process of issuing a warrant for Baldwin's arrest, Ornelas said. Mineral County police were investigating the incident and gathering evidence as Baldwin was considered a suspect.

Before Friday, Baldwin had a warrant out for his arrest in Montana on a separate crime of "accountability for operation of clandestine lab," according to the Montana Department of Correction. His criminal record also includes two charges of burglary dating back to 1996.

When Ornelas learned about the stolen vehicle in Smelterville on Friday morning, he said his sheriff's office suspected it was Baldwin who stole it. Baldwin, who fled from police on foot, would have had to travel roughly 14 miles west to Smelterville.

Shoshone County deputies, who alerted local businesses on the eastern end of the county Thursday of Baldwin's presence by passing out his mugshot, initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle matching a description given to them Wednesday at 5:37 p.m. by Mineral County police.

But the suspect vehicle, a silver Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with Montana license plates 542385A, drove through the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and managed to elude police, who ended their pursuit due to safety concerns.

The truck was found abandoned later Wednesday night by deputies. It was then impounded.

Details surrounding ISP's discovery of Baldwin's body Friday were not immediately available, the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies in Kootenai County stated that notifications were made to Baldwin's family.