Examiner's office positively identifies body of Henry Groeneveld found at Dagmar's Landing

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office has positively identified the body found at Dagmar’s Landing in Everett as that of Henry Groeneveld, who had gone missing in Snohomish back in early December.

Sheriff’s spokesperson Shari Ireton said City of Everett employees were clearing brush at Dagmar’s Landing in north Everett on Tuesday morning when they found the body of the missing Snohomish man. The 63-year-old was last seen by his wife in early December.

The examiner’s office has determined Groeneveld’s death as a suicide by drowning.

Groeneveld abruptly left their home on 400 block of Union Avenue on the morning of Dec. 11. He told his wife he was going to the river.

Snohomish Police led a search the week Groeneveld went missing that encompassed Snohomish and Pilchuck Rivers, the Avenue D Bridge, railroad trestles and First Street, according to the agency. The county’s major crimes unit took over efforts once no leads were left to pursue.

Groeneveld’s family continued to look for him. Massive community searches were organized in the weeks following his disappearance.

Liz Dickson, one of his daughters, updated the Facebook page dedicated to finding her father Tuesday. She announced that he had been found, and asked people to take down any flyers that had been put up in the area.

“I wish this was not how my Dad left this world he thought was so wonderful,” she wrote in the post. “I wish he could have known how much we all cared about him. Please pray for us as we are just completely crushed.”

Ireton said identification materials and clothing that the man was wearing when his body was found have led the agency to believe it is Groeneveld. He was described as having gray hair and blue eyes, and was last seen wearing a red knit cap, brown pullover shirt and blue U.S. Postal Service pants.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner was called to the scene Tuesday, and will complete an investigation to confirm the man’s identity, and cause and manner of his death.

People came from as far as Arlington and Lake Stevens to help look for Groeneveld. Groups searched in Sultan and Clearview. Volunteers went out on horseback to survey trails and took their personal vessels out on the area’s waterways.

Dickson felt the public’s reaction to help was immediate and more than she could have hoped for. Eventually the family stopped organizing the large-scale searches. They continued to look on their own.

Dickson does not believe responding law enforcement did their due diligence to find her father. She told the Monitor some were rude to her during the process. She was frustrated they initially treated the case as a potential suicide. She wished they had tried harder and used more resources in their efforts.

Everett Police officer Aaron Snell said the agency helped the sheriff’s office recover Groeneveld’s body, but did not conduct its own investigation. He said he could not provide any details that would support why the medical examiner ruled his death a suicide. Dickson would not respond to requests for comment, but objected to the finding when the Monitor reported it online last week.

Groeneveld volunteered regularly at the Monroe Correctional Complex, with a humanitarian aid organization and his church in Snohomish. If he met someone once, he would remember their name, Dickson told the Monitor. He was loved by and touched so many people, she said.