Sheriff's deputies and firefighters on Saturday recovered the body of an Oregon woman whose vehicle was swept away in a deep mudslide during a winter storm last week, authorities said.
Jennifer Camus Moore, a registered nurse from Warrendale, Oregon, was driving in the Columbia River Gorge near the small community of Dodson when her SUV was buried under about 15 feet (4.6 meters) of mud, rock and trees.
The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said road crews used front loaders, dump trucks and other heavy equipment to clear the edges of the debris field as they tried to locate her in the wet, unstable mud.
A private contractor, Concrete GPR, helped verify the location of her vehicle on Saturday morning by using a high-powered metal detector. Crews dug a path to the vehicle with front-loaders.
“It’s not the outcome everyone would have hoped for,” Sgt. Steve Dangler said in a news release, “but at least at this point, it brings closure to the family and allows them to begin the grieving process.”
