Body of missing Yakima doctor reported found – Yakima Herald
A body believed to be that of Dr. Jay Sloop, a retired Yakima physician who disappeared in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2013 has been discovered near the park where he was last seen, according to a web story posted Thursday by a Spokane-based administrative office of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Sloop, 77, was in Kyiv on a health training visit with the church when he headed out on a routine early morning walk to large park known as Zomkova Gara. A security camera recorded him strolling into the park the morning of May 14, but there was not footage of him leaving either of the park’s gates.
A body that police in Kyiv have identified as Sloop’s was found in a ventilation shaft of an abandoned building next to the park, according to a posting on a web site operated by the Upper Columbia Council, the administrative office for the church’s operations in Eastern Washington, north Idaho and Northeastern Oregon.
“Renovation work on the building recently began which led contractors to make the discovery while removing a wall in the basement of the building adjacent the ventilation shaft,” the post stated…
Police are currently conducting a forensic investigation in an attempt to learn more about Sloop’s death. He was identified by the clothing he was wearing the day his disappeared and his wallet containing some identification, the web posting said.
The retired obstetrician was in Kyiv helping set up a lifestyle center for the Seventh-day Adventist Church when he disappeared.
He would typically go for an early-morning walk. When he did not return for breakfast other in his party became alarmed.
“An extensive search at the time, which involved hundreds of people, including U.S. Embassy personnel, blood hounds from Ukraine and Germany and a city-wide media blitz turned up no evidence leading to Jay’s whereabouts,” the web site said.
A memorial for Sloop was held in Yakima in May 2014.
This report will be updated.