By Chris Collins

For The Observer

BAKER CITY An autopsy will be conducted today to confirm the cause of death and the identity of a body recovered by members of the Baker County Major Crime Team Thursday from a shallow grave at a campground near Unity.

Jason Paul Huff, 25, and Timothy Allen Colucci, 24, both of Meridian, Idaho, are being held in the Ada County Jail in Boise on allegations that they killed their 23-year-old roommate, Nathan Ned Fries, and buried him at the Wetmore Campground. The Forest Service campsite is on Highway 26 about 10 miles northwest of Unity.

Crime team investigators spent Thursday morning exhuming the body. It was buried under less than a foot of dirt, and a cigarette package was found in the grave, Baker County Sheriff Mitch Southwick said.

Huff and Colucci are expected to be arraigned on charges today, said Lt. Bob Stowe of the Meridian Police Department.

There is no indication that weapons were involved in Fries’ death, he said. Alcohol and drugs also do not appear to be a factor in the killing.

Huff and Colucci were arrested Wednesday after police found blood in a search of the house, Stowe said.

Fries was reported missing Monday by his father, Mike Fries of Pocatello, Idaho. He was last seen March 6, Stowe said.

Fries’ family became concerned when he failed to report for work in Portland, where he was employed as a helicopter mechanic for Columbia Helicopters. He commuted to Portland from Meridian, working two weeks on and one week off, Stowe said.

Huff and Colucci were employed at a call center at the Idaho Statesman newspaper in Boise. All three were originally from Pocatello.

Colucci and Fries had been schoolmates and became friends with Huff in the recent past, Stowe said.

The three had been living in the Meridian house for about two months.

Huff and Colucci told police Fries died in a fight at the house, Stowe said.

"At some point they revealed that they had transported the body to a secluded campground in Oregon and led detectives to the body," he said.

Stowe declined to release information about when the body was buried or other evidence police are considering as the investigation continues.