The family of a Ridgefield man is looking for answers after he was killed in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash, but his body wasn’t found until family searched the area three days later.
The incident first began at about 2 a.m. on Aug. 15 when a trooper was in the area of Interstate 5 northbound near state Highway 14 and saw what appeared to be someone walking with a flashlight south of him, Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn said.
To access the area, the trooper went north on I-5 and looped back to the on-ramp and arrived to find a motorcycle leaned up against the jersey barrier and another vehicle pulled over, Finn said.
The motorist had seen the motorcycle and stopped to see if anyone needed help, Finn said.
The trooper, who previously worked as a traffic collision reconstructionist, saw that the motorcycle had minor damage and saw no evidence of a major crash, Finn said. He thought that the driver had walked away in the time it had taken him to get to the scene, Finn said.
“In the initial investigation, it appeared to be a minor abandoned collision,” Finn said. “It looked like someone pulled over and left it there.”
Another trooper responded to the scene to assist, Finn said, and the two searched the area for a pedestrian but did not locate the rider.
In the days that followed, the family of Travis Williams noticed he was missing. Williams, 43, lived with his niece in Ridgefield, and his niece called family members on Friday morning to report that she hadn’t seen her uncle in a while, Travis’ brother Michael Williams told The Columbian on Monday.
He and his family got together and called three hospitals and police and attempted to make a missing person report, Williams said.
Later the same day, though, the family received a call from a tow company that told them that Travis’ motorcycle had been impounded. When family members learned where the tow had picked up the motorcycle, they went to that stretch of highway, Michael Williams said.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “We were worried that we would (find him) and hoping that we wouldn’t.”
They saw a headlight to his motorcycle, and looked over the embankment and spotted Travis Williams’ body.
Troopers were called back out to the scene and detectives have since begun investigating the fatal crash.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Officer determined that Williams died of multiple blunt force injuries from a single-vehicle motorcycle collision.
State Patrol investigators believe that Williams crashed and his motorcycle came to rest propped up against the jersey barrier, Finn said.
Michael Williams said that so far, he and his family are going through a difficult time — both making arrangements for a memorial service and trying to piece together how his brother’s body wasn’t found for days.
“We’re totally perplexed and horrified that it even happened,” Michael Williams said. “We’re struggling, we feel like we’re not getting much honest answers from State Patrol.”
Finn said that he understands why it’s hard for the family, but can only say that the responding troopers followed the evidence at the scene.
“It’s not like we weren’t looking,” Finn said. “It was very dark, it was hard to see … we thought we were looking for a pedestrian.”
Finn said that hopefully as the investigation progresses, the Williams family will get some closure.
“It’s just a very tragic situation,” he said.
