Boaters find body at Brookfield

Recreational boaters found a body on a beach near Brookfield early Sunday morning.

Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow, in his duties as coroner, estimated on Tuesday that the individual has been deceased for six months or less.

“This is a place where bodies from outside the county wash up,” Bigelow said. “We’re looking upstream for answers.”

The remains are at the Cowlitz County Morgue where they have undergone an initial exam.

The individual was male, approximately 6’ tall and 160 pounds. He had a light complexion and possibly brown hair. He was wearing a long sleeve black T-shirt, blue jeans, a black leather belt, athletic socks, and Teva hiking shoes.

A second, more detailed exam is planned, and the teeth will be x-rayed as well.

Bigelow hopes that detective work and help from the state’s forensic odontologist will lead to an identification. If that fails, the department will have to ask county commissioners for money in order to do a DNA comparison, according to Bigelow, because federal funding for the program ended in 2016. DNA was successfully used to identify remains found at Brookfield in May, 2016.