Port Angeles: Fully clothed body plucked from harbor; woman’s identity a mystery

PORT ANGELES — Police are investigating the death of a woman who was spotted floating in Port Angeles Harbor on Tuesday morning after swimming into the water fully clothed.

The woman, described only as a white female, had not been identified by investigators later Tuesday.

Her body will undergo an autopsy today to determine the cause of death, Clallam County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Lauren Erickson said.

Witnesses standing at the Valley Creek Estuary near the west end of Front Street said they watched a woman walk down the creek to the beach, wade into the water and start swimming to a sailboat anchored offshore about 9 a.m., Port Angeles Police Detective Cpl. Jack Lowell said.

“They asked her if she was OK, (and) she said yes,” Lowell said.

Grabbed a bow line

The woman swam to the boat, which was unoccupied, and grabbed a bow line, he said.

The people on shore again asked the woman if she was all right, and she said she was, Lowell said.

The woman swam around the boat, but did not reappear, Lowell said.

After about a minute, the bystanders walked along the shore and saw her face-down in the water, Lowell said.

More in News

Chimacum Elementary School sixth-grade students jump on a rotating maypole as they use the new playground equipment on Monday during recess. The playground was redesigned with safer equipment and was in use for the first time since inspections were completed last Thursday. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
New equipment

Chimacum Elementary School sixth-grade students jump on a rotating maypole as they… Continue reading

Microsoft purchases Peninsula credits

Carbon removal will come from area forests

Port Angeles School District to reduce budget by $1.9M

Additional cuts could come if government slashes Title 1 funding

Jefferson County discussion centers on fireworks

Potential future bans, pathway to public displays discussed

Natalie Maitland.
Port Townsend Main Street hires next executive director

Natalie Maitland will start new role with organization May 21

Olympic Kiwanis Club member Tobin Standley, right, hands a piece of stereo equipment to Gerald Casasola for disposal during Saturday’s electronics recycling collection day in the parking lot at Port Angeles Civic Field. Items collected during the roundup were to be given to Friendly Earth International Recycling for repairs and eventual resale, or else disassembled for parts. Club members were accepting monetary donations during the event as a benefit for Kiwanis community programs. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Electronics recycling

Olympic Kiwanis Club member Tobin Standley, right, hands a piece of stereo… Continue reading

Port Angeles Garden Club member Bobbie Daniels, left, and her daughter, Rose Halverson, both of Port Angeles, look at a table of plants for sale at the club’s annual plant sale and raffle on Saturday at the Port Angeles Senior Center. The event featured hundreds of plants for sale as a fundraiser for club events and operations. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Plant sale

Port Angeles Garden Club member Bobbie Daniels, left, and her daughter, Rose… Continue reading

Two people transported to hospitals after three-car collision

Two people were transported to hospitals after a three-car collision… Continue reading

Special candidate filing period to open Wednesday

The Clallam County elections office will conduct a special… Continue reading

Moses McDonald, a Sequim water operator, holds one of the city’s new utility residential meters in his right hand and a radio transmitter in his left. City staff finished replacing more than 3,000 meters so they can be read remotely. (City of Sequim)
Sequim shifts to remote utility meters

Installation for devices began last August

A family of eagles sits in a tree just north of Carrie Blake Community Park. Following concerns over impacts to the eagles and nearby Garry oak trees, city staff will move Sequim’s Fourth of July fireworks display to the other side of Carrie Blake Community Park. Staff said the show will be discharged more than half a mile away. (City of Sequim)
Sequim to move fireworks display

Show will remain in Carrie Blake Park

W. Ron Allen.
Allen to be inducted into Native American Hall of Fame

Ceremony will take place in November in Oklahoma City