By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has positively identified the remains found by a guide boat on the Cowlitz River near Toledo as the fisherman who vanished in January from an area several miles upriver.
Prathana Nammavong
Forty-three-year-old Prathana Nammavong from Des Moines was able to be identified by a unique tattoo, according to the coroner’s office.
An autopsy has been completed but a determination about the cause and manner of his death can’t be made until the results of toxicology tests come back, according to Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris.
Nammavong was reported missing January 28 after two friends went to the Blue Creek Boat Launch area south of Ethel to meet up with him. He was a regular weekend fisherman there. His chair and fishing pole were located on the bank near the river’s confluence with Blue Creek.
Multiple searches were conducted without success.
Just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office got a call from anglers on a guide boat who spotted fishing waders caught on a branch that led to the discovery of his remains in the area of the Mandy Road boat launch.
A representative of his family was notified that day of the find and the possibility it was Nammavong, according to the sheriff’s office.
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For background, read “News brief: Human remains located in Cowlitz River near Toledo” from Thursday May 4, 2017, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter