Police and the Clark County Medical Examiner’s office have confirmed the identities of two kayakers who died in an apparent accident on the Columbia River last week.
Teddi Ann Watanabe, 51, of Vancouver and her boyfriend, Bradley James Lynch, 50, of Gresham, Ore., died of hypothermia, according to the medical examiner, Dr. Dennis Wickham.
There were no witnesses to the accident, which occurred sometime around Christmas. Watanabe’s body was found Dec. 28, floating in debris in the Columbia River near the Interstate 205 Bridge. She was dressed for kayaking, including wearing a buoyancy vest, but didn’t carry an identification. It appeared she had been in the water about two days.
A search turned up an empty two-person kayak washed up on the eastern shore of Government Island. Later, a vehicle belonging to one of the pair was found at a launch site on the Oregon shore. Lynch’s body was found Wednesday.
Since the deaths were ruled accidental, police have ended their investigation.
