Missing WA woman found dead in OR months later

Name: Missing Anacortes, WA woman found dead
Uploaded: 2025-03-03T18:08:13-08:00
Description: The body of Evelyn Smith, an Anacortes woman missing since last June, has been discovered in a car down an embankment near Highway 30 in Oregon.

Missing Anacortes, WA woman found dead

The body of Evelyn Smith, an Anacortes woman missing since last June, has been discovered in a car down an embankment near Highway 30 in Oregon.

SEATTLE - The body of an Anacortes woman who went missing last June has now been found in Oregon.

Evelyn "Lynn" Smith’s family reported her missing eight months ago.

The family told FOX 13 Seattle she was the life of the party, loved the outdoors, the Seahawks, but most of all, she loved her family.

What they're saying:

"It's sort of a shock," said Smith's niece, Sheri Lauritsen. "She's been missing for a long time, and we held out hope."

Their hope is now heartache wrapped in questions. Smith’s body was found one day after her birthday.

Last week, crews found Smith trapped inside a car down an embankment near Highway 30 in Columbia County, Oregon. The Oregon State Police told FOX 13 Seattle the car crashed near milepost 58.5.

"I think there's some shock, disbelief, a lot of unanswered questions," Lauritsen said.

Lauritsen notes that Smith was disabled and on medication. She said she suffered from bipolar disorder and had manic episodes.

"Her family had some big concerns about her cognitive decline," said Det. Sgt. Jackie Nations with the Anacortes Police Department.

Timeline:

The last time Smith was seen was at the Peace Arch Border crossing in Blaine, trying to cross the border to Canada.

"The Border Patrol […] told her that she couldn't get through because […] she had an expired passport," Lauritsen said.

That was just days after the family reported her missing and Anacortes Police put out a Silver Alert. "She just, really, just went missing," Nations said. "From that point forward, she just… nothing, nobody reported her vehicle, and she didn't have any cell phones with her."

Her family said her credit cards and bank accounts were never used. The days before the 77-year-old went missing, Smith’s daughter Jenny said she reached out to psychiatrists and social workers to get her mom help, but with no success.

"As a family, we feel like she was failed," Lauritsen said.

The news of what happened to her mother comes just weeks after Lauritsen told FOX 13 Seattle that Jenny had an aortic dissection and aneurysm. "Jenny literally broke her heart," she said.

Now her heart is broken in a different way, as they grieve for Smith and wait for answers.

"It's hard. I’ve lost family members before, but not like this. I’ve always had an opportunity to say goodbye," Lauritsen said. "So, this has been hard, and for her children, it's even… it's even worse."

The investigation into what happened is still ongoing.

In the meantime, the family has set up an online fundraiser to help with funeral arrangements.

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