Two bodies were recovered from Cowlitz County waterways within two days of each other last week, prompting separate investigations by law enforcement agencies in Kelso and Longview.
The first incident occurred Tuesday, May 26, along the Cowlitz River in Kelso. According to a news release by the Kelso Police Department, officers were dispatched around 4:22 p.m. to the east bank of the Cowlitz River north of the intersection of Mill Street and Riverside Drive after a caller reported what appeared to be a body tangled in brush near the shoreline.
Officers used an unmanned aircraft system, or drone, to safely examine the area from above and confirmed a body was visible in the water. With assistance from the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office and the Cowlitz County Dive Rescue team, authorities recovered the body of an unidentified adult woman from the river, the release stated.
The body was turned over to the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office. Police said the woman’s identity, along with the cause and manner of death, remain under investigation.
A second body was discovered during the afternoon on Thursday, May 28 in Lake Sacajawea in Longview.
According to the Longview Police Department, officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel responded around 2:42 p.m. to a report of a body floating in the lake near the intersection of Nichols Boulevard and Louisiana Street. Detectives with the Longview Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit were called to the scene.
Longview Police Captain Branden McNew said in a department Facebook post on May 28, “At this time, the circumstances surrounding the discovery are considered suspicious, and Longview Police Department detectives are actively investigating the incident.”
The agency initially described the incident as a “potential drowning,” though officials have not released the person's gender, identity or a definitive cause of death.
Photographs shared on social media from the Longview scene showed multiple detectives and emergency personnel gathered near the lake as law enforcement taped off a large area surrounding the scene.
Authorities have not indicated whether the two deaths are connected.
Anyone with information related to the Longview investigation is encouraged to contact the Longview Police Department.
