A body was recovered Monday night from the Washougal River east of the Southeast Vernon Road bridge.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies responded about 7 p.m. to the 38700 block of Northeast Washougal River Road, according to a sheriff’s office news release. The body was recovered with the help of the Clark County Fire District 6 technical rescue team.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office will perform an autopsy and, after the person’s next of kin is notified, identify the individual, according to the news release. A forensic dentist is helping the medical examiner’s office with the identification, sheriff’s Sgt. Brent Waddell said. Additional information will likely be available Wednesday.
Malinda Hupy, 31, of Camas was floating the river with her family shortly before 6 p.m. Monday when her son Logan Hupy, 10, fell off his inner tube.
As she went to retrieve the inner tube, Malinda Hupy came across three men standing on rocks roughly 7 feet away. They told her they had discovered a body and asked her to get out of the water to help them.
“I didn’t believe them,” Hupy said.
But after approaching the area where the men were standing, Hupy saw a figure floating near the surface in the middle of the river. A hand was deeper in the water, wedged between two rocks.
“I was just in shock,” Hupy said. “It was kind of, ‘What do I do now?’”
The person appeared to have been dead for a while, Hupy said. Authorities have not confirmed time of death.
Hupy eventually walked away from the scene to find cellphone reception and called 911.
“I’m just hoping for closure for the family now that it’s been discovered and hoping it will be identified soon,” Hupy said.
In May, Stephen Barnaby, 30, of Portland and a companion were floating the river in the same area when they were swept into the fast-moving current and fell off their inner tubes. Emily McCauley, 28, of Portland became trapped in some debris and rocks below the water. She was rescued, but Barnaby’s body was not recovered.
