The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that a 19-year-old Camas woman died of suicide by drowning.
The body of Sarah Bear Holven was recovered from Round Lake on Tuesday, June 28. She was last seen Sunday, June 26, at approximately 11 p.m., at her Camas home. Holven was reported missing by her parents Monday, June 27, at approximately 8:15 p.m., after she did not attend classes at Clark College that day and did not return home.
In the early morning of June 28, a walker in Lacamas Park found some items that were identified as belonging to Holven, which prompted Camas police to dispatch several officers to Lacamas Park to conduct a more thorough foot patrol search of the area. It was then that a boater notified an officer that a body had been discovered partially submerged near the shoreline of Round lake at the east end near the Georgia-Pacific spillway.
Camas Police Department officers were assisted by members of the Clark County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol unit to recover the body, which was completed at approximately 2:30 p.m.
Holven’s death marks the second suicide that took place at that location at Lacamas Park within just a week’s time.
The body of Camas resident Carlos Eugene Slaughter, 22, was found by a couple walking in Lacamas Park at approximately 7:10 a.m. Thursday, June 23.
Slaughter, 22, died of suicide by asphyxia, according to information provided by the CPD and an autopsy by the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Slaughter and Holven both graduated from Camas High School, he in 2007 and she in 2010. Slaughter had recently graduated from Eastern Washington University with a degree in psychology.
According to Camas Police Chief Mitch Lackey, during the course of the investigation family members told police they were not aware of any connection between Holven and Slaughter.
“As far as [the families] know, they didn’t know each other,” he said.
Following Slaughter’s death, Lackey said flowers and mementos marked the location where he took his life.
“To have two suicides of such young people, at the same location, right around graduation time, it’s sad,” he said.
A candlelight vigil for Slaughter was held on June 28. A celebration of Holven’s life will be held Tuesday, July 5, at 11 a.m., at Lacamas Heights Baptist Church, 4727 N.E. Garfield St., in Camas.
