The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday it had found human bones in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, marking the third time since August that human remains were found there.
In a social media post, the sheriff’s office said a search team located the remains of 69-year-old Seattle resident John Hopkins on Saturday. Subsequent DNA testing confirmed Hopkins’ identity.
He had gone missing in November 2022 near the McClellan Meadows Sno-Park, where park visitors located Hopkins’ rental car.
Coordinated searches for Hopkins in 2022 failed to locate him, but in 2023 a group of hunters found his belongings roughly a mile and a half north of his rental vehicle.
“The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office is so thankful for the selfless volunteers who searched on Saturday, finding what will likely bring closure to Hopkins’ family,” the sheriff’s department wrote on Facebook.
A bear hunter made a similar discovery of a human skull on Sept. 4 at the Sawtooth berry fields, around 12 miles to the northeast of Hopkins’ remains. That skull remains unidentified.
On Aug. 10, a hiker in the Big Lava Bed area — roughly 20 miles to the southeast of McClellan Meadows Sno-Park — reported finding a human skull to the sheriff’s office. That hiker eventually joined a deputy to recover the remains.
The Skamania County sheriff told KATU that they believe the remains belonged to 31-year-old Kristopher Zitzewitz of Portland. Zitzewitz went missing in 2013 after being separated from his partner while hiking in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
