Spokane VA surgeon died of accidental drowning, medical examiner says

A surgeon found in the Spokane River last month died from accidental drowning, the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office said Monday.

Dr. John Marshall, chief of surgery at the Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Affairs Medical Center, went missing on Jan. 25 after leaving the downtown YMCA for a morning run.

His body was found the next day in the river near the Monroe Street Bridge.

Police spokeswoman Officer Teresa Fuller said the department still is investigating Marshall’s death but investigators don’t suspect foul play or believe it was a homicide.

His wife, Suzan Marshall, said in a statement Monday that she wants police to continue investigating how and where her husband entered the Spokane River. She also wants answers about what she believes were deficiencies in the Crime Check reporting system.

“I would like transparency in the role that Crime Check did not play after three phone calls from me and finally involvement of the press,” she said in the statement.

Marshall said police didn’t start searching for her husband until hours after she first reported him missing. She believes police started searching only after she contacted local media outlets. However, Fuller said the police department did not find out about the case until the afternoon when informed of the case by the Sheriff’s Office.

The Medical Examiner’s Office reported shortly after Marshall’s death that further tests were needed to determine his cause of death.