HOPE - Authorities believe a body recovered from Lake Pend Oreille on Thursday is that of Jeremy Robert Heckert, who disappeared after reportedly jumping from a boat on July 10.

A sonar crew from Ralston & Associates located the body of a male after about two and a half hours of searching, said Bonner County sheriff Det. Sgt. Gary Johnston.

A positive identification is pending via autopsy, although it is strongly believed to be Heckert's. The body was found in the vicinity of where Heckert was last seen.

An autopsy by the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office is slated for Monday. The results of a toxicological examination are expected to take at least a month, Johnston said.

Johnston said the body was located approximately 100 yards offshore west of the Hope boat basin. A remote-operated vehicle brought the body near the surface, where divers placed it into a body bag and sealed it.

Johnston said there were no obvious signs of trauma.

"There was nothing that stuck out," said Johnston.

However, Johnston added that a thorough examination of the body was not conducted before it was placed into the body bag.

"Everything goes straight to the ME's office," Johnston said.

Johnston declined to say how the body was clothed or divulge details about what led up to Heckert's disappearance because of the ongoing investigation.

The man who was with Heckert on the lake that day has not been identified, but has retained legal counsel from a Sandpoint attorney.

Johnston said another follow-up interview with the witness and his attorney is pending.

A member of Heckert's family said sheriff's officials advised her the man put his house up for sale after the disappearance, but it turns out that the information was incorrect and he had in fact put his boat up for sale.

Heckert, a 38-year-old Samuels-area resident, reportedly jumped from a boat he was fishing from but did not resurface. Alcohol may have been a factor in the incident, Johnston said on Wednesday.

Sheriff's officials said extensive searches were conducted in an attempt to locate Heckert.

Those efforts included shoreline check, the deployment of the dive team and a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office side-scan sonar.

Cadaver-detecting dogs were deployed on July 19 and picked up the scent of decomposition on the lake and on shore. It's believed the scent wafted up from the surface of the lake and adhered to the shoreline.

Ralston & Associates, an underwater search and recovery outfit from Kuna, arrived on the lake on Wednesday.

Thursday's discovery marked the 100th recovery for the Ralston team, sheriff's officials said.