Two bodies turn up in Willamette River in recent days, neither belong to missing kayaker
Published 8:18 am Thursday, April 17, 2025
- The volume of water cascading over Willamette Falls makes it impossible to search at the foot of the falls. (Jonathan House, West Linn Tidings)
Authorities have recovered a second body from the Willamette River since a kayaker plunged over Willamette Falls Saturday night, April 12. As neither body belonged to the missing 20-year-old kayaker, the search for him continues.
Around 4 p.m. on Sunday, emergency responders recovered a body from the river near Swan Island.
“When the body was recovered on Sunday, there were obvious physical indicators that it had been in the water for quite some time and couldn’t have been the kayaker who had just gone missing the night before,” Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Deputy John Plock said.
Two days later, on Tuesday evening, Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a report of a body near the Multnomah Channel. According to Plock, that body was a woman.
The missing kayaker — a California native on vacation with his family — was a man.
Reports of the young, and apparently inexperienced, kayaker going over Willamette Falls late Saturday night prompted a massive search by multiple local agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard. Though his kayak was found the next morning, authorities have not found the man as of Wednesday. Law enforcement have not released the name of the kayaker at the request of his family.
According to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, the size and strength of Willamette Falls make it all but impossible to search the foot of the falls.
Portland General Electric, which operates the Sullivan Electric Plant at the falls, said the water was flowing at about 42,000 cubic feet per second earlier this week. PGE spokesperson John Farmer said the water typically flows at about 7,000-9,000 cubic feet per second during the summer and fall months when the river levels are lower.
Authorities have not determined the identities of either body recently recovered.