Staff and news services
| Posted: Thursday, December 4, 2008 12:00 am
Authorities have identified the body of a man that washed ashore Sunday on the banks of the Willamette River southeast of Monroe as William Christopher Griffith, 37, of the Eugene area.
Griffith last was seen alive in Eugene on Oct. 30, running into the river to elude the police officers who were chasing him on suspicion of shoplifting athletic shoes from the Macy's store at Eugene's Valley River Center.
Griffith entered the Willamette River at the boat landing near the Maure Jacobs bicycle bridge in Eugene, Benton County sheriff's deputies said.
Eugene Police spokeswoman Melinda Kletzok says officers and others tried to persuade Griffith to return to shore. But he was carried downstream and swept underwater.
The river temperature is so cold that no one could long be in the water without suffering the disorienting effects of hypothermia that can lead to drowning.
Deer hunters found Griffith's body around 2 p.m. Sunday near Dodge Island Road in Benton County.
Authorities say the Oregon State Police Crime Lab identified the body through its fingerprints.
Lt. Greg Ridler of the Benton County Sheriff's Office previously said forensic evidence suggested that Griffith was neither wounded nor assaulted. "It's hard to say because of the decomposition of the body, but there's no sign of trauma," Ridler said. "It looks like a drowning."
Ridler said anyone with information on the case should Detective Eric Glass of the Benton County Sheriff's Office at 766-6858.