Body found in Nisqually could be final boater

By Jeremy Pawloski | The Olympian • Published July 01, 2008

The Thurston County Sheriff's Office dive team recovered a boy's body on the Nisqually River about 12:30 p.m. Monday, and a sheriff's lieutenant said it appears to be 9-year-old Cameron McCartney, one of three people who presumably died when a boat carrying five capsized on the river June 12.

The body "is consistent" with the description of Cameron, but "it's not 100 percent," Sheriff's Lt. Gordon Phillips said.

The body of Cameron's 5-year-old brother, Sean, was found the night of June 12. The body of another missing boater, Bryan L. Pierce, 32, was found Friday.

The two other people on the boat that capsized -- the McCartney brothers' mother, Erin, and Vincent Farler, 42 -- made it safely ashore.

Farler, the boat's operator, was arrested on suspicion of three counts of homicide by watercraft after registering a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit.

A woman who was outside enjoying the sunshine at her apartment complex on the river discovered the boy's body, Phillips said.

Coroner Gary Warnock said the body recovered Monday "matches the description of the child" who was missing after the boat capsized, but he has not been positively identified.

The boy's father, a Fort Lewis soldier who was serving in Iraq when the accident happened, has been contacted by the coroner's office, Warnock said.

The coroner's office still was trying to schedule an autopsy for the boy's body to determine cause and manner of death, Warnock added.

Jeremy Pawloski covers public safety for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5465 or jpawloski@theolympian.com.