WENATCHEE — Authorities say they believe a body found along the Columbia River is that of a 17-year-old central Washington girl missing since Tuesday.
Douglas County Sheriff Harvey Gjesdal said Sunday that authorities are working under the assumption that the body discovered in Crescent Bar Saturday is that of Mackenzie Cowell.
Gjesdal told The Wenatchee World he’s basing his assumption on the victim’s appearance, as well as statements made by a detective who has been working the case and has seen the body.
Gjesdal wouldn’t comment on the cause of death, but he called the case a homicide. An autopsy is planned for Tuesday.
Cowell was last seen leaving a beauty school class in Wenatchee last Tuesday. Her locked car was found that night near Mission Ridge, about 40 miles from her home in Orondo.
Ellensburg: Missing snowmobiler, 87, is found dead
Kittitas County sheriff’s deputies say the body of a missing 87-year-old snowmobiler has been found by a relative.
Sheriff’s Commander Robert Gubser said Dale Sasseen, of Cashmere, was found dead Saturday about 2.4 miles from where he was last seen.
Gubser said in a news release that it appears Sasseen’s snowmobile became stuck on Wednesday in the Cooke Canyon area about 10 miles northeast of Ellensburg. He said Sasseen was unable to free it, then tried unsuccessfully to build a fire before dying of exposure.
Oregon: No signs sheriff’s sergeant would kill, neighbors say
Neighbors say a Clackamas County sheriff’s sergeant who police say killed his wife and another woman before taking his own life was a friendly neighbor who earlier had appeared to be trying to reconcile with his wife.
Police said Jeffrey A. Grahn killed his wife, Charlotte, shot and killed another woman, then wounded a third woman before shooting himself at a crowded Gresham restaurant Friday night.
Neighbors told The Oregonian that the couple had filed for divorce, but were still living together and appeared to be trying to reconcile.
Man dies on coast trying to rescue his dog
Oregon State Police say a 72-year old man died Sunday morning after he was swept out into the Pacific Ocean while trying to rescue his dog in Lincoln City.
Troopers say the man was playing fetch on the beach with his dog at the D River Wayside when the dog apparently got caught in a wave and was pulled from shore. Witnesses say the man went into the water to help, only to be swept away by another wave.
Police say onlookers tried unsuccessfully to save the man, who was brought to shore by a North Lincoln Fire &Rescue swimmer. The man’s dog was able to make it back to shore and survived.
Alaska: Weather halts avalanche victim search
A search for a second ConocoPhillips Alaska employee missing and presumed dead in a Kenai Peninsula avalanche has been stymied by weather.
An avalanche around noon Saturday near Seward buried Jim Bowles, head of ConocoPhillips Alaska, and Alan Gage, part of the company’s capital projects team in Anchorage. They were among a party of 12 snowmobilers in the Grandview wilderness area. Bowles’ body was recovered. Gage is missing and presumed dead.
Once the weather breaks, a search will resume if avalanche experts decide conditions are safe.
From Herald news services
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