LINCOLN CITY, Ore. — Police have launched an investigation after a beachcomber stumbled upon a man's body partially buried in the sand on a Lincoln City beach Thursday morning.
Shortly after 7:30 a.m., a caller contacted Lincoln City police dispatch to report that they'd found what they believed to be a body in the sand while walking in an area south of Canyon Drive Park.
Police officers responded and quickly confirmed that there was an adult male's body partially buried near the base of a cliff embankment. Lincoln City detectives, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Oregon State Police and staff from the county district attorney's office and medical examiner's office responded to the scene due to the "suspicious nature" of the discovery.
Lincoln City police said that the man's body was carefully exhumed from the sand and taken to a local mortuary.
Weeks later, police identified the man as 32-year-old Robert Ryan Leach.
He was identified through fingerprints and authorities were able to track down his family to notify them of his death. Police said he appeared to be homeless at the time, but he also had ties to Washington state.
The state medical examiner's office found "no indications of criminal activity" during Leach's autopsy. Detectives are waiting on toxicology results for further information into his cause of his death.
Anyone with any information about the case should contact Lincoln City Police Detective Bud Lane at 541-994-3636.
Earlier on Thursday, the Benton County Sheriff's Office announced that it had identified a man found dead in the Willamette River near a Corvallis park on March 31.
Investigators said that help from multiple agencies and tips from the public helped them identify the man as 44-year-old James Ernest Donat of Corvallis. The cause and manner of his death are still under investigation, and the agency has asked for tips about his whereabouts in the weeks preceding the discovery of his body.
Anyone with information about Donat is asked to contact Detective Matt Moser at matthew.moser@co.benton.or.us or call 541-766-6774.
