Police investigating after body found in Puyallup lake at local park
Police are investigating after officers found a body in Puyallup.
Kevin Gill, spokesperson for the Puyallup Police Department, told The News Tribune they found the body in Bradley Lake, near Bradley Lake Park which is at 531 31st Ave. SE.
At 5:46 p.m., the Puyallup Police Department sent a news release saying the body has been identified as an adult woman.
“Central Pierce Fire and Rescue personnel recovered the deceased, an adult female, from the lake. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has taken custody of the deceased for a postmortem examination,” the release said. “Detectives from the Puyallup Police Investigative Service Unit will be investigating this incident to determine if this deceased individual is related to a Pierce County Sheriff Office missing person case from a week ago.”
Officers first got the call at about 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Gill told The News Tribune in an earlier interview.
“Somebody called it in and saw what looked like a hand or something sticking out from the water, it looked human and they called us,” Gill said.
Gill said they are still investigating and do not yet know the cause of death. He said the body has shown signs of having been in the lake for an extended period of time.
“We don’t have any information, we don’t know any signs of trauma, anything like that, it looks like it’s probably been in there for a while,” Gill said.
Gill said the case now goes to the medical examiner, who will try to identify the person. Once they have some of those key pieces of information, police will investigate how the person ended up in the lake.
In a Facebook post, PPD said Bradley Lake Park is temporarily closed while officers wrap up the investigation.
“There is no danger to the public,” the post said.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include new information from the Puyallup Police Department about the body being an adult woman and possibly connected to a Pierce County Sheriff’s Office missing person case.
This story was originally published February 3, 2026 at 4:41 PM.
