Former Oregon Mayor's Remains Identified After 20-Year Mystery
Authorities have finally identified skeletal remains that washed ashore on a remote Washington beach nearly two decades ago. The remains belong to Clarence Edwin "Ed" Asher, a former mayor of the small Oregon town of Fossil. He vanished during a fishing trip in 2006. This identification closes a case that investigators long presumed was a drowning, but never formally resolved.
The Disappearance in 2006
Ed Asher disappeared on September 5, 2006. He was 72 years old at the time. Asher headed out alone to crab and fish at Tillamook Bay, a narrow inlet on Oregon's coast. According to reports from The Astorian newspaper, he left Garibaldi's Old Mill Marina around 10 a.m. He told his wife he planned to return by mid-afternoon. When he failed to come back, she contacted authorities that evening.
The United States Coast Guard launched an extensive search immediately. Multiple boats and HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters from Air Station Astoria joined the effort. Crews later located Asher's 21-foot boat idling about half a mile from the marina. Live crab still sat on board. Searchers recovered two of the three buoys he typically used. They found no lifejacket.
His wife informed searchers that Asher did not usually wear a lifejacket. She also said he did not know how to swim. Officials believed he had fallen overboard. The search covered over 200 miles of water for more than 11 hours. Poor visibility prevented an underwater search. The operation suspended the following day.
The Discovery of Remains
Less than two months later, in November 2006, skeletal remains surfaced on a beach in Taholah. This unincorporated village sits on the Quinault Indian Reservation. It lies roughly 185 miles north of Tillamook Bay.
The Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office and the county coroner examined the remains. They could not establish an identity. The case entered the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System as Grays Harbor County John Doe. It gradually slipped into obscurity over the years.
Forensic Breakthrough in 2025
The case changed dramatically in 2025. Forensic evidence from the remains went to Othram, a Texas-based company specializing in genetic genealogy. Scientists used forensic-grade genome sequencing to create a detailed DNA profile from the bones. They compared it with a reference sample from one of Asher's relatives.
The match confirmed the skeleton belonged to Fossil's missing former mayor. Ed Asher was born in 1934. Authorities presumed him dead shortly after his disappearance.
Asher's Life and Legacy
Ed Asher's wife, Helen, died in 2018 at age 85 after a long battle with cancer. Her obituary noted his sudden disappearance left "a large hole" in her life. It prompted her to return to Condon, Oregon, where the couple married in 1986.
Together they built a sprawling blended family. It included children, 21 grandchildren, and by Helen's death, 17 great-grandchildren.
In Fossil, a town of just a few hundred residents in Wheeler County, Asher was a familiar and widely respected figure. His obituary details a life of service and passion. He worked nearly 50 years as a lineman at the Fossil Telephone Company. He ran the Asher Variety Store. He volunteered as a fireman and ambulance driver. He served a brief term as mayor before retiring in 1995.
The obituary also recalls a man devoted to fishing, boating, antique cars, and his black Labradors.
Closure After Two Decades
This identification brings a measure of closure to a disappearance that lingered unresolved for nearly 20 years. What was once a nameless set of remains on a distant shoreline now traces back to a life rooted firmly in a small Oregon community. Forensic certainty finally links a long-assumed fate with a name and a story.
