Big Eddy drowning victim was from Sultan

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, June 12, 2018

GOLD BAR — A Sultan man has been identified as the fourth drowning victim in two months in Snohomish County waters.

Joseph R. Pike had been swimming downstream from the Big Eddy public access site June 5. He went underwater around 4:30 p.m.

Pike’s body was recovered more than an hour later from the Skykomish River east of Gold Bar. He was 35.

His death was ruled an accident, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office reported Monday.

Pike was the second man to drown in the Skykomish River in two weeks, and the fourth to die in the county’s rivers and creeks since April.