Port Angeles: Missing fisherman may have staged disappearance, his sister says

The disappearance of a Tacoma angler two weeks ago on the Elwha River is raising red flags for investigators and the man’s sister.

Lower Elwha Tribal Police Chief Mike Lasnier said he is “97-plus percent” sure that Michael William Udall, 33, drowned while fishing.

But other theories — including Udall staging his own disappearance — and the lack of a body are keeping police searching for answers.

“It’s not your average missing-persons case,” Lasnier said Saturday.

Udall’s white Toyota Celica convertible was found Sept. 16 about 100 yards from the river along Lower Elwha Road. Evidence at the scene suggested someone had left the vehicle to go fishing and had not yet returned.

Udall had last talked to family members the previous Friday, Sept. 13, before planning to fish the Elwha River alone, police said.

He never showed up the following Monday for his job in Tacoma, where he worked with his father.

Lasnier called off a two-day search Sept. 17 after locating Udall’s backpack and fishing gear near the river.

The fishermen has yet to be found.

Udall is a lifelong outdoorsman who has fished the Elwha River “a kajillion times,” said his older sister, Melia Udall-Bond of Federal Way.

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The rest of this story appears in the Monday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.

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