Nearly 20 years after skeletal remains washed ashore on a beach in Grays Harbor County, authorities have finally identified the man once known only as "Grays Harbor County John Doe (2006)."

Clarence Edwin “Ed” Asher, the former mayor of Fossil, Oregon, went missing on 5 September 2006, during a crabbing trip on Tillamook Bay. His boat was later found adrift with crab gear aboard but no sign of Asher. Authorities noted at the time that Asher did not know how to swim and was not wearing a life jacket.

In November 2006, skeletal remains were discovered on a remote beach near Taholah on the Quinault Indian Reservation, more than 150 miles from where he disappeared. Initial investigations failed to identify the remains, and the case eventually went cold.

The breakthrough came in 2025 when the Grays Harbor County Coroner’s Office and the King County Medical Examiner’s Office submitted the remains to Othram, a Texas-based forensic DNA laboratory. Using advanced DNA sequencing and genetic genealogy techniques, scientists matched the remains to Asher's relatives, confirming his identity.

Asher was 72 at the time of his disappearance and was a well-known figure in Fossil. He worked as a telephone lineman, owned a variety store, and served as the town's mayor before retiring in 1995. His wife, Helen, who filed the original missing person report, passed away in 2018.

Officials described the identification as a “significant breakthrough” in a cold case that had long puzzled law enforcement, finally bringing closure to Asher's large blended family.