Man was working in forest when he was shot

Victim was picking bear grass; suicide has been ruled out

Wednesday, November 5 | 8:04 p.m.

BY JOHN BRANTON
AND STEPHANIE RICE
COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITERS

Skamania County Undersheriff Dave Cox released new details Wednesday about a Tacoma man whose body was found Nov. 1 in the Skookum Meadows area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Homicide victim Juan Rojas Cortez, 30, had been working picking bear grass. When he failed to show up at quitting time, two co-workers started looking for him and found his body. He’d been shot in the torso. Suicide has been ruled out, and detectives are trying to determine whether his death was accidental or intentional.

Cox said detectives have received some leads from hunters who were in the area at the time of the shooting, but said detectives still want to find a person who may have relevant information. The person is described as driving a white SUV such as a Jeep Liberty, and being a short white male age 30 to 40 who wears round glasses and answers to a name similar to “Craig.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Sgt. Monty Buettner or Detective Tim Garrity at 509-427-9490.