WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — Law enforcement believes the body of a missing Whatcom County woman was discovered in a ravine on Sunday, April 2.
Police dispatch received a report from someone helping search the area in Maple Falls where Julie Montague-Ayers went missing on March 10. The body was in a deep ravine in a wooded area near her home, according to Whatcom County Sheriff's Office.
Due to the steep terrain and weather conditions, search and rescue personnel and resources were unable to access the area and retrieve the body. A security detail remained on scene until resources were able to return.
On Monday, April 3, members of Bellingham Mountain Rescue pulled the body from the ravine. The body was turned over to the Whatcom County Medical Examiner's Office.
The official identification of the body will be made by the Whatcom County Medical Examiner's Office. However, based on the location and last known description, it is believed to be Julie Montague-Ayers, according to the sheriff's office.
Montague-Ayers, 67, was on a walk with her husband, Roy, from their home on March 10 when their dog ran away. Roy Ayers went after the dog. When he returned, Montague-Ayers was gone, he said.
“I took off after the dog and left Julie right here,” Ayers said, pointing to the spot at the beginning of a trail near his home in the Peaceful Valley neighborhood near Kendall.
Montague-Ayers had been diagnosed with dementia.
Download our free KING 5 app to stay up-to-date on news stories from across western Washington.