Authorities locate the body of missing Whatcom County man who went off-roading alone
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The search for a missing Whatcom County man has been called off when he was found deceased on Saturday.
Stefan Olivier, 26, was reported missing to the Bellingham Police Department on Friday Jan. 19. He was last heard from on Jan. 17, and his last known location, according to friends, was Mosquito Lake Road near the Nooksack River. He told friends he would be taking his Subaru Legacy off-road, according to Deb Slater with the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.
Search and Rescue units were unable to locate Olivier on Friday night, possibly due to the low light and fresh snowfall.
Rescue units were notified by a passerby Saturday of a body in a ditch mostly covered in snow. The deceased man was identified as Olivier when deputies arrived.
Slater said though the exact cause of death is still being investigated, there is no current criminal investigation.
Olivier’s vehicle was not found until Sunday, located at the bottom of an embankment on Middle Fork Road, Slater said. His body was found about half a mile from his vehicle. It remains unclear how or why Oliver became separated from his vehicle.
The cause of death remains under investigation, Whatcom Medical Examiner Deb Hollis told The Bellingham Herald on Wednesday.
BPD reached out to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office to help with the search. The search and rescue nonprofit Summit to Sound also joined the search.
This story was originally published January 22, 2024 at 3:30 PM.
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