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Body of driver found in pond

by Herald Staff
| June 28, 2004 9:00 PM

Passengers in vehicle apparently got out safely

The body of an 18-year-old man was discovered last week in a Mattawa

pond. He was the apparent victim of a car crash that was reported three

days earlier.

According to the Grant County Coroner's Office, Narcisso Estrada-Vivanco, 18, died from blunt force trauma and freshwater drowning.

According to a news release from the Grant County Sheriff's Office,

deputies responded to a report of a partially submerged 1994 Kia Sephia

on Desert Aire Drive a mile east of State Road 243 during the early

morning hours of June 20.

Deputies located spots of blood going up a dirt bank, indicating someone

had left the vehicle, but fire department personnel were unable to locate

anyone, according to the news release.

The Kia Sephia was traveling eastbound and apparently failed to make a

corner and swerved into the pond, according to the news release.

Three days later, members of Estrada-Vivanco's family reported to the

Mattawa Police Department that he had been missing and was last seen

driving a 1994 Kia Sephia. At about the same time, an orchard worker was

clearing debris from the pond and the discovered the body, which

retrieved by Grant County Search and Rescue later that day, according to

the news release.

Grant County deputies learned other people were in the vehicle during the crash, according to the news release. Deputies spoke with two Mattawa

residents who were in the car, a 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl.

Both said other passengers were in the car when Estrada-Vivanco lost

control and drove into the pond, according to the news release.

All the passengers left the Kia Sephia when it entered the pond but could

not find the driver, the two passengers told police.

The passengers did not come forward sooner to authorities because of a

language barrier, Grant County Chief Deputy Courtney Conklin said.

Search and Rescue searched the pond again on June 24 and found nothing else from the crash, according to the release.

The sheriff's office has requested anyone with information about the

accident to contact its deputies at 509-754-2011 or 1-800-572-0119.