By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office today said the dead man found by children, hanged near the railroad tracks in north Centralia is 58-year-old Dale Glenn DeHaven.
[1]Dale Glenn DeHaven
DeHaven moved to the 1300 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia in December.
Coroner Warren McLeod said his death was determined to be a suicide.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was contacted late Sunday afternoon and directed to a trestle over the Skookumchuck River south of Reynolds Avenue and east of Interstate 5.
McLeod said DeHaven’s three siblings were notified last night.
DeHaven has lived in a variety of places around Lewis County since he was released from prison in 2005, including the areas of Mossyrock, Silver Creek and Onalaska.
He served more than 11 years for the sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl that was the daughter of a casual acquaintance, according to the sheriff’s office. He was a level three registered sex offender.
Before that, he spent time in prison for a 1980 conviction in connection with a sexual assault of his 76-year-old neighbor woman in Lewis County.
Last year in Lewis County, there were 11 deaths by suicide. The year before there were 21, according to the coroner’s annual report.
McLeod said hanging is the second most common method of suicide he sees. The most frequent way is by use of a firearm, he said.