Body of missing student Dwight Clark found in logging lagoon

The body of a Washington State soon-to-be college freshman, 18-year-old Dwight Clark, was found last night floating near a dock in a log lagoon in Bellingham.

An official identification has not been made, but police say that there is “no reason” to believe the body is not that of Clark, and that the teenager’s driver’s license was in his pocket when the body was found. A man planting eel grass in the lagoon, which is roughly a mile from the party Clark attended the night he disappeared, located the body. Police say it may have been trapped under a dock or log boom, but that there was no evidence foul play was involved in the teen’s disappearance.

The only trace of Clark found prior to his disappearance was a “phantom” text message sent from his phone to a friend’s phone at 2:40 am on the night of his disappearance. The message was blank, but placed Clark in the downtown area, where his trail went cold. Police are unable to currently determine if Clark met with any injury or physical trauma due to the length of time the body was in the water, and the results of an autopsy are pending.

[Bellingham Herald, Seattle Times]