Hailey Athay was first reported missing in November 2024. Her remains were discovered over the weekend in the Rose Valley area.
KELSO, Wash. — Human remains found in rural Cowlitz County over the weekend have been identified as those of Hailey Athay, a 33-year-old woman who disappeared a year and a half ago in the area of Rose Valley, an unincorporated community southeast of Kelso.
According to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office, two locals were hiking on Weyerhaeuser property near Rose Valley Road and the 1600 line on Sunday when they found some clothing and two bones, and they reported the find to authorities.
Cowlitz County Coroner Dana Tucker said in a statement that the remains were quickly confirmed to be human.
The next day, the coroner’s officer worked with the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office and several search and rescue teams to scour the area for additional remains. They’d finished the search by end of day Monday, locating complete skeletal remains, clothing and personal belongings.
On Tuesday, Tucker said her office had used dental records to confirm that the remains were those of Hailey Athay, who was reported missing in November 2024. Her cause and manner of death are still under investigation.
“The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office extends its sincere appreciation to the two young men that originally located the remains and notified us, along with the sheriff’s office and all search and rescue personnel who assisted in the recovery efforts, helping to bring Ms. Athay home to her family,” Tucker said.
Friends and family have been keeping up the search for Athay ever since her disappearance. Her mother told KGW in April 2025 that Athay struggled with addiction and rarely stayed in one place for long, but she’d always checked in with her family.
By December of 2024, a few weeks after Athay was first reported missing, her family and friends became increasingly worried that something had happened to her. Athay was last seen in the Rose Valley area around Thanksgiving that year.
Loved ones said they believed that Athay had been out in the woods with someone, possibly looking for mushrooms. While the person with her returned, they say, she did not.
The sheriff’s office said that the area where Athay’s remains were found was in a place of interest during earlier search efforts, but those searches had failed to turn up any evidence at the time.
Athay’s disappearance and death remains an open investigation, the coroner’s office said.
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