PORT TOWNSEND — The body of a woman found in the water near the city pier of Port Townsend on Wednesday has been identified as that of Melissa Christine Ellis of Oak Harbor.
The 31-year-old woman had been missing since Nov. 25, Bill Beezley, spokesman for the East Jefferson Fire-Rescue Department, said today.
The manner of death is undetermined, Beezley said, but he added that Port Townsend Police Sgt. Joe Kaare said the probable cause of death was salt-water drowning.
Ellis had been listed as missing after she disappeared sometime between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. the Friday after Thanksgiving.
She left her Oak Harbor home after telling family members she was headed to Coupeville and then to the beach.
Her body was spotted by a couple taking photographs shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday.
It had washed up in the area formerly occupied by the Tidal Bowl, which was dismantled this month.
The body was tentatively identified on Thursday on the basis of tattoos that were matched to a description in the missing person’s report.
But authorities would not release the name, age or other information until the identity was confirmed by family members.
Kaare said that it’ll be several weeks before the toxicology report and final medical examiner’s report will be available.
Earlier report:
PORT TOWNSEND — The body of a woman pulled from Port Townsend Bay on Wednesday afternoon has been tentatively identified from information in a missing-person report.
Authorities won’t release the name, age or other information until the identity has been confirmed by family members, said Bill Beezley, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue public information officer, who is serving as the spokesman for the investigation.
“We are waiting until the body is positively identified and the family is notified before we release any information,” Beezley said.
Beezley said the tentative identification was made on the basis of tattoos that were matched to a description in a missing-person’s database accessed by the Port Townsend Police Department.
He would not say when the missing-person’s report was filed or from where the person was reported missing.
A Seattle pathologist was scheduled to perform an autopsy on the remains late Thursday.
Either a family member or a representative of law enforcement was expected to visit the body for identification purposes, Beezley said.
The body was spotted shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday by a man and a woman who were taking photographs of the bay, Beezley said.
It had washed up in the area formally occupied by the Tidal Bowl, which was dismantled this month.
It was “badly decomposed and had been in the water for some time,” Beezley said.
The couple called 9-1-1 emergency dispatch, and firefighters, Port Townsend police officers and the Jefferson County prosecuting attorney, acting as the county coroner, arrived.
The body was taken to a waiting car at about 4 p.m. and transported to Kosec Funeral Home in Port Townsend.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
