Friends: Man disappears trying to save photos of late fiancee

Saturday, Jan. 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Police have suspended a search for Michael Snelling, 53, until the Truckee River subsides. He hasn't been heard from since he drove to his workplace on the raging river to salvage the photos.

"I'd like to think I'm wrong (about his death), but there's no other plausible reason for his disappearance," said friend Ken Cady.

Snelling distributed newspapers for CDS, and his personal photos were in its office. Friends fear he died while trying to drive a washed-out road to the office, Cady said.

"Michael is a good friend and a very dedicated employee. Would he take off? The answer is no," Cady said.

A Sun Valley woman, who asked not to be identified, said Snelling's fiancee was murdered several years ago in Las Vegas.

"He wanted to go back to his shop to get pictures of her. That's the only thing he talked about," the woman told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

She said a police officer previously warned him to stay out of the barricaded area, but he was determined to get his photos before the flood did.

Cady confirmed that, saying Snelling had asked him how to salvage water-damaged pictures.

When no one saw Snelling last weekend, Cady filed a missing person report with police Monday.

Meanwhile, a search continued Saturday for a Gardnerville man who disappeared into the flooded Carson River Jan. 2.

Frederick Pinard, 59, was working on a front-end loader to shore up a bank when the ground gave way and the loader toppled into the water.

He's the only known flood casualty across northern Nevada so far. Hundreds of homes and businesses were flooded across the region after a series of storms dumped heavy rain on a massive snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.

Sister-in-law Debbie Byers of Gardnerville said the family is having a difficult time waiting for news about Pinard's fate.

"Everything's in limbo. We can't really plan anything," she said.

Pinard's wife, Saundra, died of cancer in 1988. Daughter Janine Bliss lives in Gardnerville and son Dana resides in the San Diego area.