Coroner identifies man found in Columbia River in 2021
On Jan. 13, the Chelan County Coroner’s Office issued a press release to the media, asking for the public’s help in identifying a gentleman whose body was pulled from the Columbia River on July 4, 2021. Included in that press release were two sketches generated by a forensic artist that approximated what the decedent may have looked like, based on forensic scientific reconstruction methods.
Up to that time, the man’s identity remained unknown, despite forensic efforts to identify him.
When the Coroner’s Office recovers bodies from the Columbia River, the Chelan PUD’s security department contacts the office and requests a copy of the death certificate to finalize its reports because the death was on PUD property. As part of e-mail communication with the security department, Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris sent the two sketches to let the security department know Harris was still in the process of exhausting all efforts to identify this man.
Less than 30 minutes later, Harris received an email stating some of the PUD security officers knew who this gentleman was, based on multiple contacts with him on PUD property.
Based on the name they provided, Harris proceeded with the presumption that this was the gentleman and obtained his medical records. In the records, it noted that he had been in the hospital in May 2021 and had some x-rays taken.
Harris obtained the images from the hospital and provided them to the forensic anthropologist, who compared the images to the post-mortem x-rays taken during the autopsy.
“I felt optimistic that we would get a match. The age of the gentleman was in the age range provided by the anthropologist months ago, and the man had not been contacted by law enforcement or the PUD security staff since May,” Harris said. “The pathologist estimated that the man may have been in the river for about two months. This fit the timeline.”
On Friday, April 8, the anthropologist compared the images and emailed Harris with confirmation that the identity of the gentleman found in the river and the hospital x-rays were a match. She compared his nasal sinuses and said they were very unique and confirmed it was Robert A. Jones, a 76-year-old homeless man who lived out of his vehicle.
Harris then emailed a request to a group of genealogy researchers who work with coroner’s offices to locate next of kin, and by the following Monday he had information on Mr. Jones’ sister. Law enforcement went to her Colorado home to give the death notification, and later that evening Harris received a phone call from Jones’ family. The family stated they had been wondering what happened to Jones and appreciated all efforts to not only identify him but to also find the family to give them notification.
Last Updated: 04/19/2022 02:47 PM
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The information contained on this site is provided as a courtesy of the Chelan County. Where it exists, the "Index.txt" will contain a brief explanation of files contained in this folder
Chelan County makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided on its web site. However, due to the possibility of transmission errors, HTML browser capabilities, changes made since the last update to the site, etc., neither Chelan County, nor any agency, officer or employee of Chelan County warrants the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of any information published by this system and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of such information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from this system does so at his or her own risk.
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Chelan County makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided on its web site. However, due to the possibility of transmission errors, HTML browser capabilities, changes made since the last update to the site, etc., neither Chelan County, nor any agency, officer or employee of Chelan County warrants the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of any information published by this system and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of such information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from this system does so at his or her own risk.
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Assessor's Office Community Meeting: Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee
Posted by: Chelan County Assessor
Chelan County Assessor Wes Cornelius invites property owners and all interested parties to attend one of four community meetings scheduled this spring throughout the county.