According to Eau Claire media [here and here] Brandon Reitan was from Rice Lake, Wisconsin.
On October 22, 2016 in the early morning hours the Chippewa Falls Police Department was involved in an attempt to stop a vehicle suspected to be driven by Brandon Reitan. The vehicle eluded the officers in the pursuit traveling west of the city of Chippewa Falls into the Town of Wheaton. The vehicle driven by Brandon Reitan was soon after found in the Township of Wheaton, south of CTH X near the Chippewa River. A search of the area was conducted by Law Enforcement that morning and continued for a number of days with Law Enforcement failing to locate Brandon Reitan. It was suspected that Reitan had fled to the Chippewa River and may have attempted to cross the river. Assisting the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department was the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the K-9 Emergency Respond Team from southern Wisconsin, Chippewa Area Fire District Drive Team and Mayo 1 out of Eau Claire.
On Sunday evening at around 7:00pm the City of Eau Claire Police Department responded to a call from a boater on the Chippewa River near the North Crossing that they had located a body in the water. The body was recovered and the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department was notified of the incident. The body recovered had a wallet with the driver’s license that of Brandon Reitan.
An autopsy was performed this morning at an area hospital on the body recovered, the Coroner’s initial finding is that Brandon Reitan died from drowning.
The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department wishes to extend our appreciation to all the agencies who assisted our department involved in this incident and our sympathy is extended to the family of Brandon Reitan.
Sheriff James L Kowalczyk
Last Update: Apr 24, 2017 12:18 pm CDT
