FORKS — The body of Benjamin Roldan Salinas, the West End man who had been missing since May 14 after running from a highway traffic stop, was found in the Sol Duc River three miles east of Sappho, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Sunday night.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian King said a resident reported seeing the body floating in the river at 8:29 a.m. Sunday near U.S. Highway 101 between Mileposts 208 and 209 — about four miles downstream from where Roldan Salinas fled a Border Patrol traffic stop last month.
A family friend spotted the body about a mile downstream stuck under a “root wad strainer,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
A multi-agency swiftwater rescue team extracted the body at 3:31 p.m.
Family members positively identified the body as that of Roldan Salinas, King said.
An autopsy was planned for today.
“There are no signs of foul play,” King said.
“Clearly, the state of decomposition of the body suggests that he’s been in the water since the time of his disappearance.”
According to a May 16 statement from the Border Patrol, a U.S. Forest Service officer made the initial traffic stop of the vehicle that Roldan Salinas was in and requested translation assistance.
Border Patrol agents arrested one person in the vehicle on an immigration violation as Roldan Salinas fled to the river, which was swollen and swift from a recent rainstorm.
Friends and family members have spent the past three weeks searching the river every day for signs of the 43-year-old Forks-area man. Private searchers assisted with Sunday’s recovery operation, King said.
Before Sunday, the Sheriff’s Office did not mobilize a volunteer search-and-rescue team because Roldan Salinas was considered a fugitive.
King said he did not know Roldan Salinas’ immigration status.
As many as 150 people were looking for Roldan Salinas at the height of the search, said Lisa Salazar of Forks Human Rights Group.
Salazar on Sunday said the group will assist the family in any way it can.
King said the body was found in a treacherous part of the river with rapids and heavy currents.
The swiftwater rescue team was comprised of volunteer search and rescuer personnel, Lower Elwha Klallam police, a Snohomish County Fire District No. 19 volunteer and Clallam County sheriff’s deputies.
The Sheriff’s Office is in charge of the investigation.
The remains were taken to Drennan-Ford Funeral Home of Port Angeles.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com
