Former Oregon Mayor Missing Since 2006 Identified Through Skeletons Found On Beach

The skeletal remains of a human found on a beach in Washington nearly 20 years ago have been identified as belonging to a former Oregon mayor who went missing in 2006. Clarence Edwin “Ed” Asher was 72 years old when he was pronounced legally dead after he disappeared on a fishing trip at Tillamook Bay, a small inlet on the coast of Oregon.

The Coast Guard launched an extensive search operation that was quizzically stopped just a day after Asher vanished. Nearly two months later, human remains were found on a beach in Taholah, which is an unincorporated village on the Quinault Indian Reservation along the Washington coast.

The Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office and the Coroner's Office attempted to identify the remains but could not find any meaningful leads. The remains were registered in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and eventually buried alongside other unresolved cases.

However, in 2025, the coroner's office and King County Medical Examiner sent the evidence to a lab in Texas, where scientists managed to extract DNA and build a profile for the person.

"The company said it created a detailed DNA profile and, with a sample from a relative of Asher's, was able to link the skeleton to Fossil's lost mayor," a report in the New York Post highlighted.

Also Read | IIT Hyderabad Graduate Reveals Work Culture Difference In India And Japan: 'Can Switch Off Here'

Who Was Edwin Asher?

Born in Salem on April 2, 1934, Asher was raised in Astoria. He moved to Fossil, Oregon, in 1952 where he worked as a lineman for the Fossil Telephone Company, where he worked until retiring in 1995. Asher's second wife Helen, passed away in 2018 after a long-fought battle against cancer at 85 years old.

The couple boasts of an extended family that includes 21 grandchildren and, by the time Helen passed away, 17 great-grandchildren, according to their obituaries.