A 60-year-old man was found dead in the Chehalis River under the Galvin Road bridge in Centralia on Wednesday, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
The man, a Rochester resident who was staying in Centralia, was reported missing by friends shortly after 6 p.m. on Monday, March 24, after they found his vehicle abandoned near the bridge, according to Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Special Services Chief Gabriel Frase.
They reported that they hadn’t seen him for a couple days before they found his vehicle.
The man was not identified by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday.
Based on statements from the victim’s friends and observations of the vehicle and the shoreline, Frase said Thursday that deputies “believed the subject had likely gone into the water.”
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office requested the aid of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office Dive Rescue Team, which was deployed into the Chehalis River on Wednesday, March 26.
The Dive Rescue Team is a 13-person volunteer team composed of Thurston County deputies, Lacey police officers and Lacey firefighters, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
Divers found the victim’s body submerged in the river underneath the Galvin Road Bridge, according to Frase.
The circumstances of the man’s death are not considered suspicious at this time, Frase confirmed.
The man’s identity and cause and manner of death will be released by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office at a later time.
