Skydiving Death Called A Suicide

Sun., July 19, 1998

From Staff

The death of a Vancouver, Wash., woman in a skydiving incident near Molalla likely was a suicide, the Clackamas County sheriff’s office said Saturday.

Kimberly Ann Powell, 35, a veteran of some 200 jumps, died Thursday when her main and reserve chutes did not open.

Investigators learned from friends and relatives that she had tried suicide in the past and had talked to others about using skydiving to do so.

A plane carrying Powell and three others took off from an airstrip and the four jumped about 15 minutes later. Three of them landed safely, but they could not find Powell. They called police after finding her body in a field near the airstrip.

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