72-year-old hunter’s body found in reservoir 7 months after vanishing, WA cops say
A 72-year-old man’s body was found seven months after he vanished during a hunting trip in Washington, deputies said.
Someone reported finding a body June 22 in the Swift Reservoir, just south of Mount St. Helens, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Deputies and the county coroner got on a boat to recover it, authorities said.
The body was determined to belong to David Brinkmeyer, who had vanished Nov. 13, 2024, deputies said.
At the time, Brinkmeyer tried to cross the Muddy River, a fast-moving stream near the reservoir, with an inner tube and a rope system, deputies said.
He was swept away and never found for months, despite “an extensive search,” deputies said.
Brinkmeyer’s body was found more than 12 miles from the last place he was seen, deputies said.
His daughter, Renee Vondra, said in a Facebook post her father was a tugboat captain with Tidewater Barge Lines and had been hunting for elk when he was swept away.
