Port Angeles – We took a look back and came up with a month-by-month listing of the top local stories of 2025 based on our listener’s and reader’s reactions and comments on our social media pages, and here they are.
The month of January was dominated by the disappearance of 28-year-old Marley Zimmerman of Port Angeles, a member of the Quileute tribe. She was reported missing on January 20 and remains a missing person.
February was all about the upcoming start of the massive fish passage projects at Lees Creek and Ennis Creek. The work, which began in March, created traffic revisions that are expected to last into the Fall of 2026.
News in March was dominated by another traffic story, the repaving of 8th Street between Lincoln and “A” Streets and resurfacing the 8th Street Bridges. Readers also connected with the story of Grey Wolf Elementary School in Carlsborg going into a brief lockdown as police attempted to arrest a robbery suspect who had fled on foot.
In April, investigators were looking for a hit-and-run driver who struck and seriously injured a 13-year-old Sequim boy, and another suspect was being sought following the armed robbery of the Kitsap Bank in Sequim. Both suspects were eventually arrested.
In May we reported that Amazon had acquired a property in Port Angeles with the intent of building a warehouse and distribution facility. And the search for missing kayaker Ty Coone was suspended after he was reported missing while kayaking in the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Dungeness Spit. Coone’s body was later recovered.
Another missing person story led the news in June after an 18-year-old Texas man tumbled 50 feet into Sol Duc Falls while climbing on the slippery rocks. His body was discovered under water, wedged between boulders, and was recovered weeks later when the current was less dangerous for recovery crews.
July had two big stories after a tanker truck overturned near the Elwha River Bridge, spilling petroleum into Indian Creek — a tributary feeding the city’s primary drinking water source. And the Hurricane Ridge area was closed after a four-year-old child was injured by a mountain lion in Olympic National Park.
In August we were talking about the Port Angeles School Board debating the renaming of the new Stevens Middle School. They eventually agreed to call it Hurricane Ridge Middle School.
September’s news was dominated by two traffic deaths. 43-year-old Curtis Denny’s body was missing for 3 days after he rolled his truck near the intersection of Highway 104 and Highway 101 in Jefferson County. He was found deceased about 100 yards away. And 38-year-old log truck driver Dwane Sukert of Port Angeles was killed when his log truck collided with a semitruck on Interstate 90 near North Bend.
More tragedy in October when a Sequim father and his 4-year-old son, along with another man from Port Orchard, lost their lives in the Bogachiel River while fishing. And a Port Angeles couple were charged with attempted murder in the knife attack of a Good Samaritan who stopped to give them and their 7 children a ride.
In November we broke the story of a deadly police shooting of a 39-year-old Port Angeles man after he exchanged gunfire with officers when they attempted to question him about an arrest warrant. That incident is still being investigated.
And in December, National Park Service officials sought public assistance in locating 26-year-old Alleacya Boulia of St. Louis, Missouri, after her parked car was found at the Sol Duc Trailhead in Olympic National Park. Boulia has still not been located.
Those were the top local stories of 2025 based on your engagement on our website and social media pages.