POCATELLO — Was a baby thrown into the Portneuf River on the city’s west side Thursday night?

Or was it a bundle of items that did not include an infant?

Pocatello police detectives are on the case trying to solve this mystery.

The Police Department issued a press release Friday stating that its detectives are searching the river and are checking security camera footage in that area to see if the woman who allegedly threw the baby or bundle into the waterway was captured on video.

Police also issued a description of the woman on Friday, saying she’s a heavy Hispanic female approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall who was wearing a dark sweatshirt and light-colored sweat pants on Thursday night when she threw the baby/bundle over the West Custer Street bridge’s eight foot fence into the Portneuf River.

The woman then walked away heading east on West Custer and has not been seen since.

Pocatello police want anyone who has any information on the incident to contact the Police Department’s Detectives Division at 208-234-6121.

The woman’s actions on the bridge would have gone unreported if not for a citizen who witnessed the incident and contacted police.

The citizen told police that it appeared the woman threw a baby wrapped up in a blanket into the river. The citizen’s report triggered an immediate and massive response from the Pocatello Police and Fire departments who converged on the Porneuf River in search of the infant.

The citizen called police around 8:45 p.m. Thursday and emergency responders searched the river for over an hour without finding the baby. Police officers and firefighters positioned themselves on both sides of the river’s banks and shined flashlights into the murky ice-cold waterway from West Custer Street all the way to Kraft Road over a mile away. Many police and fire vehicles were positioned along the river with their high beams pointed toward the waterway to provide more illumination.

A Journal reporter on the scene Thursday night noted that the river’s current was fast and its water level appeared higher than normal. Authorities said that the river slowed in the Kraft Road area but the search was still difficult there because it was night and there were many downed trees and branches in the waterway.

Police said they also used night-vision equipment to search for the baby on Thursday night but could find no signs of a child.

Firefighters said all they found during their search of the river was a barrel and several ducks.

Police said they took the citizen’s report very seriously and every available officer was looking for the infant on Thursday night. The Pocatello Fire Department deployed multiple fire units to participate in the search as well.

Authorities decided against conducting another large-scale search on Friday and instead turned the case over to Pocatello police detectives.

Police are now hoping that the security camera footage and other witnesses can help resolve this mystery.