Chandler Melton / Whitefish Pilot Scott Almos, left, looks at the glasses of his brother, Dave Almos, whose remains were pulled from Whitefish Lake on Sunday. Dave Almos, who was 14 at the time of his disappearance, had been missing since 1972.

For 30 years, Scott Almos has been haunted by dreams that his brother, Dave, would knock on his door and tell him where he has been since he went missing in 1972.

That knock came last week, when Scott heard about a sock containing human foot bones was snagged by a fisherman at Mackinaw Point in Whitefish Lake.

On a Saturday, June 24, 1972, Dave, 14, and his friend Jay Richardson, 15, camped at Mackinaw Point . When the boys didn't return home the next day, a search for them began. Their belongings were found at the camp site, but no boys.

Then, on the July 13, a fisherman visiting from California snagged Richardson's body, causing it to rise to the surface. Divers began searching for Dave's body in the same area.


After three days of diving, then Flathead County Sheriff Curt Snyder called off the search, telling the Whitefish Pilot, "The parents of the presumed drowned boy are satisfied with the efforts made to recover their son's body. The factor now is one of asking residents of the Whitefish Lake area to maintain an eye on the waters in the event the boy's body surfaces."

At the time, Scott was 11 years old. He and Dave were close, sleeping in bunk beds in their shared room. Scott remembered him as a "typical big brother," who loved to hunt and fish, and who excelled at sports, which eventually prompted Central School to create the Dave Almos memorial award for their top student athlete.

"He was a great big brother," Scott said. "It was just a huge loss in my life."

Such a huge loss, that Scott never completely believed that his brother had died.

He wondered for a long time why the body hadn't been found.

"This isn't like the Atlantic Ocean or anything," he said.

The Almos family never held a funeral for Dave.

"I'm not quite sure why," Scott said. "Looking back, there should have been."

He and his sister had talked about a funeral service a few years ago, Scott said, but he just couldn't get himself to go through with it.

But when he heard about the sock found at Mackinaw Point, something changed in Scott.

"It struck me--like it's real--there may not be any doubts anymore," he said.

Additional diving revealed a partial skull later last week, and then on Sunday, the door finally opened on Dave's death when a diver retrieved his thick, black glasses, with his name inscribed in the side They were found, perfectly preserved, under 80 feet of water and a few inches of silt. More remains, believed to belong to Dave, were also found Sunday.

Although they are waiting for DNA testing to confirm that the bones belong to Dave, which could take up to one year for the FBI to complete, Scott said he was "99.9 percent sure" the bones belong to his brother.

No matter how the DNA tests come back, Scott said there will be a funeral for Dave.

"It hurt," Scott said about his finally excepting his brother's death. "I hung on all these years, not quite giving up."

Now, he said, he tries to wonder how Jay and Dave drowned. It is believed that the paddle boat they had taken out into the lake somehow capsized.