Anglers find man’s body near river in 2022, Washington cops say. Now he’s identified
Two fishermen were on the Columbia River in Washington when they discovered a body in 2022, deputies said.
DNA testing helped identify the remains as 34-year-old Pierre Pearson from Georgia, the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office said May 29 in a Facebook post.
The anglers found Pearson’s body June 2, 2022, near Martin’s Bar, a park in Woodland, deputies said.
At the time, the coroner was not able to identify Pearson, and he didn’t have identification on him, authorities said.
Fingerprints and a facial identification could not be done at the time because of the body’s “level of decomposition,” deputies said.
Deputies then got help from Othram, a lab in The Woodlands, Texas, that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy.
Othram identified potential family members and created a family tree.
Pearson’s step-mother and father were contacted, which helped authorities get his dental records.
He was then identified by a forensic odontologist, a “specially trained dentist” who can help identify human remains for police.
Pearson’s family last heard from him in 2021, and he was transient in Portland before his death, deputies said.
This investigation will be closed because deputies said “there is no indication that Pearson died as a result of a crime.”
Woodland is about a 30-mile drive north from Portland, Oregon.
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 6:52 AM with the headline "Anglers find man’s body near river in 2022, Washington cops say. Now he’s identified."
