Missing Eugene man pulled from waters near Harrisburg

KLCC | By Brian Bull

Published August 18, 2022 at 6:50 PM PDT

The general area where searchers found the body of Justin Grossman.

A Eugene man’s body was pulled from the Willamette River Wednesday.

Authorities say they responded to a woman’s report of seeing the body on a small island a mile north of McCartney Park, near Harrisburg.

Benton County Sheriff’s deputies retrieved the remains late Wednesday morning. They have been identified to be those of 36-year-old Justin Grossman.

Grossman had been missing since this spring, after rescue personnel with the Lane County Sheriff’s Office and Eugene-Springfield Fire were informed of a capsized canoe found in the Willamette on May 7^th.

Searchers could not find Grossman, who had reportedly been camping on an island and was commuting to -and from it- via canoe.

Disasters & Accidents

Brian Bull

Brian Bull is a contributing freelance reporter with the KLCC News department, who first began working with the station in 2016. He's a senior reporter with the Native American media organization Buffalo's Fire, and was recently a journalism professor at the University of Oregon.

In his nearly 30 years working as a public media journalist, Bull has worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional), the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.

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