PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend police officers and a search-and-rescue team with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office are working to recover the body of a woman found dead on a bluff below Elmira Street Park.
Port Townsend Deputy Chief Michael Evans said the body of an adult woman was found by a passerby between 50 and 70 feet above the beach line Saturday morning.
As of Saturday afternoon, the search-and-rescue team had not been able to get to the body because of a high tide and choppy water conditions, Evans said.
Evans could not offer many details because the body has not been recovered.
“We have no other indication at this point of foul play, other than a body on a cliff side,” Evans said.
Evans said the search-and-rescue team is planning to hike out to where the body was found, roughly a 30-minute walk, once the tide goes out far enough.
He said this would likely be after 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
“As soon as the tide allows us to get down there, we’re going to get down there,” Evans said. “That’s the plan.”
An estimated age and cause of death will be available after the body is recovered and an autopsy performed, Evans said.
Evans said he could not confirm how long the body had been there, but estimated that it was less than 24 hours.
“But we can’t confirm that until we get out there,” he added.
On Oct. 13, a large portion of the bluff where the body has been found collapsed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
No one was in the path of the small landslide when it occurred.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
