PORTLAND, Ore. — A search operation organized by the Skamania County Sheriff's Office on Saturday succeeded in finding what are believed to be the remains of John Hopkins, a Seattle resident who went missing in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest almost two years ago.
Hopkins, 69, was reported missing in November 2022. His rental car was quickly found in the McClellan Meadows Sno-Park parking lot, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office, but searchers couldn't find him. Another search in 2023 found what was suspected to be his belongings about 1.5 miles away from the parking lot, but no human remains.
"He's quite the outdoorsman," Skamania County Sheriff Summer Scheyer said. "Very skilled, and when we did find the van and we did search through it, once we realized there's something off about this, and he went missing, we did find all kinds of outdoor gear."
Sheriff's office personnel launched a new search last weekend, drawing on volunteers from the Silver Star Rescue Team, and they successfully recovered human remains. The remains will be sent in for DNA analysis to confirm the identity.
"Being able to bring closure to a family and bringing somebody home, even if it's only a portion of them — I can't imagine what kind of relief and closure they're able to experience," Scheyer said.
The news comes just a few days after a separate incident in which the sheriff's office reported that a bear hunter had called in to report finding what appeared to be a human skull near the Sawtooth Berry Fields in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
The skull was recovered and confirmed to be human, according to another Facebook post from the sheriff's office, and forensic analysis is being conducted to try to determine the person's identity.
"We don't know who that is at this time," Scheyer said.
Another set of remains was discovered in the Big Lava Bed area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in late August. A hiker found a skull and reported the GPS coordinates to the sheriff's office. When a deputy failed to find the remains at the listed coordinates, the hiker volunteered to lead law enforcement back to the site.
"We believe that's Kristofer Zitzewitz," Scheyer said. "There were some indicators that were enough to allow us to contact the family and give them notification in believing it was him."
Zitzewitz went missing in the Big Lava Bed area in 2013 and was never found, despite many searches. The sheriff's office hasn't positively identified the remains, but said the skull had been taken to the county medical examiner's office for identification.
Scheyer said there are currently twelve other people missing with ties to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
"Those are people that we've either found their vehicles or they were last seen in Skamania County," she said.