Clinton County Coroner Phillip Moss has identified a man whose body was recovered from a pond near the Best Western Motel in Centralia.
He’s 37-year-old Jeffrey Downs of Swansea. An autopsy is still being planned to determine the cause of death, although foul play is not suspected.
Centralia Police Chief Greg Dodson says the body was found by Centralia Firefighters using a boat to search the water after a jacket belonging to the man was found in the pond by a police officer who had been called to the motel to a report of a missing or endangered person.
Dodson says family members had called police around 10 Sunday morning to report they had not had any contact with the man who was staying at the hotel since Friday evening. The family indicated Downs had been experiencing mental health issues and was worried for his safety. They had come to the motel Sunday morning to try and locate him.
Dodson says the motel staff was able to pull up video surveillance footage showing where the man was last seen walking toward a drainage pond just north of the hotel late Friday night or early Saturday morning.
Since the pond is located about 150 feet outside the Centralia City Limits, the investigation has been turned over to the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department and Coroner.
