State police have identified a pair of victims who drowned Monday afternoon in White River Falls at Tygh Valley. Police said 15-year-old Caleb Justice and Jonathan Brett McLean, 26, died after they fell in while attempting to scale behind the falls for a photo opportunity.
River salvage expert Mark Angel located both bodies at the bottom of the pool on Tuesday evening.
McLean of Portland and Justice of Vancouver/Camas were both in the area for a gathering of church groups at the Tygh Valley Fairgrounds.
The White River Day Use area has been closed during the recovery operation but will re-open Wednesday.
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2012.
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How very sad. My condolences to family and friends. The Falls are beautiful but deadly. Hope others take heed and don’t make the same mistake. No one thinks it can or will happen to them…neither did my grandson, age 13, who drowned last July in a lake in Minnesota.