Body of man missing for months discovered by canoer in Oregon river, deputies say

A man vanished in an Oregon river in May and had been missing ever since — until a canoer recently found his body, deputies said.

The canoer reported finding a body on a small island in the Willamette River on Wednesday, Aug. 17, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office said. The remains were identified as Justin Grossman, a 36-year-old from Eugene.

Grossman had been missing since May 7 when his canoe capsized near Eugene, deputies said.

“Searchers saturated the area but were unable to find Grossman, who had reportedly been camping on an island in the river and was using the canoe to commute to and from it when the boat capsized,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

His body was found nearly three months later more than 20 miles from where he disappeared near Harrisburg, deputies said.

This story was originally published August 19, 2022 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Body of man missing for months discovered by canoer in Oregon river, deputies say."