Body of hunter who fell from train trestle has been recovered with aid from Thurston Dive Team

OLYMPIA — The body of 24-year-old hunter Haley Benjamin was recovered Tuesday near Matlock, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

Benjamin, of Elma, had been walking on an abandoned railroad trestle with her family Friday, Oct. 25, when she fell nearly 200 feet to the riverbank after a wooden tie broke beneath her. Fire officials contacted deputies for help reaching the woman, but reaching her was slow and difficult because of the steep terrain, deputies said.

An officer from the Aberdeen Police Department used a drone to confirm she was dead, deputies said. Weather conditions and the terrain kept the agencies from reaching her that day, so a rescue team with the Mason County Sheriff’s Office was later sent. But when the team got to the woman’s location, the river had swept her body away, deputies said.

On Tuesday, the Thurston County Dive Rescue Team, with law enforcement and firefighters from 10 agencies, were able to recover Benjamin’s body using multiple specialized resources, including rope systems, rafts, drones and a crane.

With rising waters having carried her to an inaccessible location, two Dive Team rafts were launched to search the challenging terrain of the shallow river.

“After an extensive and coordinated effort, she was located and respectfully recovered with the assistance of Lacey Fire’s Rescue 31 crane rig and transferred to the Gray’s Harbor County Coroner,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote in its post.