This Prosser man disappeared 26 years ago. Umatilla deputies believe they found him
Investigators believe they found the body of a Prosser man who vanished 26 years ago.
A couple scuba diving Thursday near the Hat Rock State Park boat launch found a Ford Ranger pickup just past the end of the docks in about 20 feet of water.
When Umatilla County sheriff’s dispatch checked the license they found it belonged to Maynard “Friday” Koen.
Columbia Basin Dive Rescue and D and R Towing from Hermiston helped pull the pickup out of the Columbia River on Saturday.
Inside, deputies found skeletal remains and Koen’s identification. The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office is determining whether it was Koen’s body in the truck.
Koen, a retired ranch hand, was last seen in August 1993.
Friends at the time believed he was heading to downtown Prosser for dinner, the Herald reported at the time.
Disoriented, the 82-year-old man turned south, and forced another car off the road somewhere near Wallula during a rainstorm.
When she caught up with Koen, he seemed confused and said he was looking for Prosser.
A former employer, Bud Hamilton, spent hours searching from him, thinking he drove off somewhere into the Rattlesnake Hills or northeastern Oregon, he told the Herald at the time.
This story was originally published October 22, 2019 at 12:05 PM.