Body found in Willamette was April drowning victim

UPDATE • A 24-year-old Portland man was last seen struggling in the Clackamas River near the High Rocks area

Pamplin Media Group, Nov 28, 2009, Updated Dec 1, 2009

Courtesy of CCSO

Members of the Clackamas County Marine Unit towed a human body to shore Saturday morning after it was discovered in a jumble of sticks floating on the Willamette River near Lake Oswego. The body has not been identified.

The body of a 24-year-old Portland man who drowned in late April in the Clackamas River was discovered Saturday morning in the Willamette River near Lake Oswego.

Clackamas County’s deputy medical examiner used dental records to identify the body of Zachary Rollins, who drowned April 21 while swimming near the High Rocks area in Clackamas.

A fishing guide and his clients discovered Rollins’ body at about 9:30 a.m. Nov. 28 in a jumble of sticks floating on the Willamette River, just below Hogg Island, on the Lake Oswego side of the river.

Rollins was last seen at about 4:50 p.m., April 21, fighting to stay afloat in Clackamas River rapids, going under and not resurfacing near the pedestrian bridge between Gladstone and Oregon City.

A Clackamas County sheriff’s Marine Unit arrived and helped two other people out of the fast-moving water. None of the people in the river was wearing a life jacket.

River patrol deputies and others searched the area for a couple of hours for Rollins, using underwater cameras.

The water temperature that day was about 47 degrees.

The body discovered Nov. 28 was taken to the east side of the river at the Oak Grove Boulevard boat ramp. It was turned over to the medical examiner, who identified Rollins.

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