Fireball Leaves Behind A Mystery

Reported sightings of a streaking fireball over the Tri-Cities have captured the interest of scientists, a talk-radio host and conspiracy theorists.

The object - possibly a meteor that may have ended up on the bottom of the Columbia River - created a brief ripple of interest after it was reported Jan. 7.

But Judy Smiley, a Kennewick woman who says she saw a fireball splash into the Columbia, hasn’t stopped hearing about it from people outside the Tri-Cities.

Since she told reporters about it, Smiley has taken calls from scientists at New Mexico’s Sandia National Laboratory, a radio host in Seattle and a man from New York who believes a meteor took down TWA Flight 800.

Almost without exception, the callers have been stunned by the notion no one here has gone bobbing in the river with a face mask and a metal detector.

“They’re really surprised nobody’s looking for it,” Smiley said.

Smiley said she was driving home at night when she saw a ball trailing orange and red flames in the eastern sky.

She said she watched the object fall for about a minute before it splashed into the river.

A Pasco police officer reported seeing a meteor shower at about the same time.