Pasco police believe this man is dead. They need help finding his body

Pasco police are hoping someone can lead them to the body of a 24-year-old man who disappeared more than a year ago.

Nathan Rich was last seen on Dec. 15, 2018, after being released from jail.

His girlfriend, Mira Fitzhugh, reported him missing, according to court records.

She told police he was last seen wearing a Dallas Cowboys hat, black leather jacket, jeans and hiking books and carrying a duffel bag.

Police were told he set off on foot for Nevada, but Detective Julie Lee doesn’t believe that he ever left the Tri-Cities, she told KAPP-KVEW-TV.

On Wednesday, the department announced that his disappearance is now considered a homicide.

Last March, Rich was supposed to show up in Spokane to face arson charges, but he never made it.

Then last fall, Lee discovered Fitzhugh had started using Rich’s food benefits card three months after his disappearance.

Fitzhugh and Corey G. Silva, 33, are accused of getting the Department of Social and Health Services to activate the card in March.

She was caught on camera using it at various stores, and when Lee checked the state’s records and then listened to an audio recording of Fitzhugh and Silva making the application. Police found Rich’s benefit card in her wallet.

Fitzhugh and Silva deny being involved in Rich’s disappearance.

Both are being held in the Franklin County jail on charges of theft, identity theft and fraud.

Pasco Sgt. Rigo Pruneda said there is other evidence that Rich is dead, but since it’s an open investigation, police want to be cautious about how much information they release publicly.

Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary has issued a death certificate but has not listed a cause or manner of death.

Now police are searching throughout the area in hopes of finding his remains.

He was featured last May on the “For the Missing: Pacific Northwest” Facebook group, which highlights missing children and adults from the Pacific Northwest.

He was described as 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, with sandy blond hair and blue eyes.

Police are asking anyone with possible information to call the non-emergency dispatch number at 509-628-0333 or email Lee at leej@pasco-wa.gov and refer to case number 19-10215.

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 4:55 PM.