Diver missing near Deception Pass is student from Brush Prairie

Published 12:02 pm Tuesday, May 20, 2008

DECEPTION PASS — The woman who disappeared while diving near Deception Pass has been identified as a Walla Walla University student.

A spokeswoman for the Seventh Day Adventist university at College Place, Rosa Jimenez, says Shari Booth was taking a scuba class at the university’s Rosario Marine Laboratory.

The 19-year-old freshman from Brush Prairie was reported missing Monday and was not found in a search involving helicopters from the Coast Guard, Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, searchers and divers with the Skagit County sheriff’s office, volunteers and boaters.

Walla Walla University contracts with a professional diving business to provide scuba classes. Classes are postponed pending an investigation.

Information from Skagit Valley Herald, Blue Mountain Television