UPDATE | Man’s body in Colvos Passage is recovered

Kayaker calls 911 after discovering body in shallow water

PORT ORCHARD — Patrol deputies from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by Port Orchard Police and its marine unit patrol boat, recovered a body from the waters of Colvos Passage just after noon Oct. 18 near Olalla.

Sheriff’s Office Deputy Scott Wilson said the body has been tentatively identified as a male believed to be in his early 40s. The body was recovered at 12:12 p.m. and was brought ashore, then turned over to the Kitsap County Coroner’s Office.

A call was received by 911 operators at 11:18 a.m. from a nearby kayaker, who called from his cell phone to report seeing a body in shallow water floating off the west bank of the passage near Olalla. Colvos Passage is a tidal strait within Puget Sound, running west of Vashon Island between the island and Kitsap Peninsula. It lies north of the Tacoma Narrows.

The county’s forensic pathologist will conduct an autopsy Thursday. The coroner will make a positive identification, notify next of kin and determine the cause and manner of death, Wilson said.

The sheriff’s office investigation remains open pending autopsy results, he added.