Kayaker discovered body in river a year ago, Washington cops say. Now he’s identified
A kayaker discovered a body on pilings in a Washington river a year ago, deputies said.
DNA testing recently identified the man as 55-year-old Bryan M. Heinrich Sr., the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
His body was first discovered on July 11, 2022, at the mouth of the Cowlitz River in Longview, deputies said.
Authorities determined the body belonged to a male, but there was no identification.
The county coroner examined the body and found no signs of trauma, deputies said.
Investigators couldn’t take fingerprints or conduct facial recognition because of decomposition, so a dental record was created and added to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, DNAsolves.com said..
Investigators then partnered with Othram, a lab in The Woodlands, Texas, that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy, in December 2022.
The lab identified potential family members, which helped investigators find Heinrich’s brother.
The brother confirmed a tattoo on the body as belonging to Heinrich. Another person who had children with Heinrich also identified the tattoo, deputies said.
Heinrich had been living in homeless shelters and was last seen by family members in March 2022, months before his body was found, deputies said.
Investigators said there aren’t any signs he died because of a crime, so they are closing the case.
Longview is about 50 miles north of Portland, Oregon.
This story was originally published August 22, 2023 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Kayaker discovered body in river a year ago, Washington cops say. Now he’s identified."
