Bend river remains update: Autopsy indicates no foul play

A weekend autopsy on a man’s body found in the Deschutes River near downtown Bend late last week found no signs of foul play, police said Monday.

“Toxicology results are pending,” police Lt. Clint Burleigh said in a brief update after the autopsy was conducted at the State Medical Examiner’s Office.

The man has been tentatively identified and his family has been notified, Burleigh said, but his name won’t be released until its confirmed by fingerprints.

A body found in the Deschutes River near downtown Bend likely will take at least a week to identify, police said Friday. The remains were spotted by workers Thursday afternoon near the Newport Avenue bridge and dam.

Lt. Clint Burleigh told NewsChannel 21 the body is a white man. He could not say whether investigators suspect foul play, or how long the body may have been in the water.

“There are further steps to go through for a positive identification,” Burleigh said in an update, “to include an autopsy scheduled over the weekend at the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office” near Portland.

Workers apparently spotted the body and called 911 just before 3:30 p.m. Thursday. It was located near the spillway of the dam that forms Mirror Pond, prompting a three-hour operation to remove the remains and investigate the circumstances, police said.

Timothy Walsh of Prineville talked Friday of how he was working on a drywall project at Columbia Bank when he saw police rushing to the river.

“I saw the (district attorney) and a couple detectives and they were all standing and looking in the water, and I knew it wasn’t good,” Walsh said. “It shocked me. I feel bad for the family, and hope they can work through it and find some type of closure.”

Police, fire and Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue worked past sunset to remove the body from the river, Burleigh said.

Police hope to identify the man next week.