Police: Body found in Willamette River is Tyler Brady

Tyler Brady

A body pulled from the Willamette River near the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry today has been identified as 22-year old Tyler Brady. Brady, who was last seen riding his bicycle in Southeast Portland, was reported missing on February 27th.

On Monday, the Police released the last known images of Brady and he was seen on his bike near a local Safeway supermarket.

Portland Police say an autopsy will be conducted tomorrow to determine the cause and manner of death. They searched for his bicycle near the submarine dock at OMSI today but did not locate it.

Read this recent story in the Portland Mercury for more about Tyler.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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RyNO Dan
RyNO Dan
14 years ago

There is a bike chain attached to one of the mini oak trees near the opera building along the bike path. If you find Tyler’s key, try to open the lock.

sam
sam
14 years ago

Oh, damn. Condolences to his friends and family… I was rooting for him to come riding back to town from some strange adventure.

K'Tesh
K'Tesh
14 years ago

My Prayers go out to his Family.

Marcus Griffith
Marcus Griffith
14 years ago

My thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends.

naomi
naomi
14 years ago

Damn, that’s crazy. That area has fairly high railings, almost seems like this would be some sort of foul play.

Jess
Jess
14 years ago

My prayers go out to Tyler’s family and everyone who was close to him at our High school.. WE’ll all miss you!

Hart
14 years ago

Honestly, what’s the point of even mentioning the lack of bike found in the river? Like it even matters.

jan
14 years ago

There have been many suspicious deaths just like Tyler’s all over the country-Providence, Boston, Ithaca, LaCrosse, the list goes on. Someone goes to a bar, leaves alone, then ends up in a river. PLEASE someone make this is investigated thoroughly.

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

The mention of the lack of a bike being found may indicate that there was a robbery.

Finding the bike may help in determining what happened.

The people who read this blog tend to keep an eye out for each other and keeping an eye out for Tyler’s bike would be the type of thing they do.

RyNO Dan
RyNO Dan
14 years ago

The lock in question is a combination lock. They should dust it for prints.

Jackattak
Jackattak
14 years ago

So sad. Not the way I was hoping this would turn out, at all. 🙁

My condolences to Tyler’s family and friends in this utterly difficult time.

That area is rife with tweakers. There are areas on the Esplanade that I avoid going to just because of the tweakers, and I’m more than capable of handling myself alone. If my intuition serves me properly, I’d say he was robbed for nothing other than his bike.

So very sad and I hope the police at least get some answers for the family.

Nick V
Nick V
14 years ago

#11 Jackattak,

My apologies, but what is a tweaker? Same as a mugger?

I’ve never had problems on the Esplanade but I’m usually on there during normal commuting hours.

Jackattak
Jackattak
14 years ago

Nick V –

A tweaker is another name for a meth head. Or someone addicted to methamphetamine.

I would imagine that during normal commuting hours they are not prevalent. I see them mostly on the north end of the Esplanade (so not where Tyler was, but they are a migrant bunch). I walk the Esplanade mostly on Saturdays and Sundays at varying hours during the day.

Singlespeeeeeeeeeed
Singlespeeeeeeeeeed
14 years ago

The Eastbank Esp and the farther south Springwater Corridor are getting worse and worse as time goes on. Now that it’s getting close to summer again there are more people camping. Last year I was chased on my bike by a loose dog owned by some of the “campers.” Anyone who has ridden on the Eastbank near Salmon has probably seen the amount of people who hang out here all the time. It sure doesn’t feel safe, especially at night!

Nick V
Nick V
14 years ago

#14,

That’s true about Salmon, but before the recent crackdown, there were people hanging out EVERYWHERE along the river, especially under the Burnside bridge. I assume most of them are homeless and only a very few of them appear to be threatening. I do recall some problems by the Steel Bridge, but is there ANY part of downtown that is 100% safe?

One of the things I like about the bike is that if you maintain a certain speed, then it would take a blatant act to stop you and get you off the bike. In that case, there would probably be a good number of witnesses if you were downtown or on the Esplanade.

I guess we’re off topic and I do think Tyler Brady’s situation is sad. I’ll be curious to see what the autopsy reveals.

Jackattak
Jackattak
14 years ago

@ Nick V –

I understand what you mean and believe me…I hope I’m wrong as hell about my current intuition and it wasn’t foul play.

But I don’t think I am.

No matter what has happened, this is a terrible tragedy of the worst kind. Nothing can replace Tyler, ever, and I grow weepy just looking at his photo and realizing he’s no longer with us or his family and friends.

Joe
Joe
14 years ago

RIP bike bro, you will be forever in our hearts, we ride for you!

peace,
Joe

jocko
jocko
14 years ago

It is easy to blame people who are addicted to drugs for a crime like this. I have ridden the river trail near omsi and into sellwood at all hours and have never had any problem with “tweakers”. Let wait for the autopsy. Farewell Tyler I am sure you are missed.

CS
CS
14 years ago

So sad. And yes, please don’t jump to conclusions and make assumptions about people hanging out on the esplanade. I have never had any problems or felt threatened at all.

Kt
Kt
14 years ago

It might be possible that he fell in the river farther upstream and ended up down by Omsi; I would not assume that he fell in right there.

I would also not assume anything about how he ended up in the river until the experts in this sort of thing finish their investigations and release their reports.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Tyler’s friends and family; this is a tragedy, no doubt.

Joe Rowe
Joe Rowe
14 years ago

Rest in peace Tyler. Best wishes to your family.

Let’s not jump to any conclusions with hatred, but not leave any guess off the table.

– The bike path near OMSI is almost fully dark at night, and in some spots it’s easy to loose the path, which curves a lot. I’ve done that even with good headlights.

– There are homeless people there most of the time. I’ve never had trouble with them but other people have. Let’s not invalidate each other. I’ve seen far more first hand violence from loaded white people who have homes or apartments but head downtown.

Marsh
Marsh
14 years ago

this is so sad. i just want to say sorry to his friends and family.

KWW
KWW
14 years ago

I rode home through OMSI and the Springwater Corridor last night around 11pm. Lots of people camping out there, and I make sure to watch my back and keep the pace up.

bahueh
bahueh
14 years ago

just ruled an ‘accidental drowning’….
don’t start getting out pitchforks and going after transients just yet…

Jackattak
Jackattak
14 years ago

I’m very happy to hear that foul play wasn’t a factor. I had been thinking about that intuition and the more and more I thought about it, taking into account that Tyler wasn’t a small lad by any stretch, I figured my intuition wasn’t serving me well.

RIP, Tyler. 🙁

Hart
14 years ago

I don’t understand how not finding a sunken bike alongside a drown body in any way indicates a robbery. Not everyone who rides a bike is a martyr.

Joe Rowe
Joe Rowe
14 years ago

It’s bad path design, not an accident. Even sober with lights I’ve driven off that section of path at night. I’ve always thought it was way too dangerous, and should have called it into the BTA or 823-SAFE

Just guessing but he was going to or from work, so being heavily affected by a substance is not likely.

If I were the family, I’d be talking to a lawyer right now.

matt picio
14 years ago

Joe Rowe (#22) and others – Amen. I’ve felt more threatened by big guys in even bigger pickup trucks out at 82nd Avenue in deep SE or in Clackamas County than anyone I’ve encountered downtown.

Joe (#29) – One report says he was last seen at a bar in NW not long before, and that he was refused service for being drunk, so maybe not. In any case, this is a terrible thing, and my condolences go out to his friends and family.

Ian
Ian
14 years ago

Ty-Brady had a lot of friends and was dearly loved. I have yet to see someone as supportive and responsive to their friends as Tyler was in my seven years living in this dirt pile called Portland.

The world is less one good soul. I hope the rest of us can begin to take selfless heed of our friends and family as Ty had demonstrated.

Thank You Ty-Brady for the laughs, the good times and your unwaivering positive attitude in life.

(sniff)