“Since April 1, 2025, eight bodies have been recovered. Compared to April and May 2024, six bodies were recovered,” the announced in a press release on Monday, May 5. “The number is not unusual, though it is tragic.”

Authorities said that the medical examiner continues to investigate the cause of death for those who died, but “the majority of the eight bodies recovered this April and May are the result of drowning caused by suicide.”

The sheriff’s office added that it has no reason to believe the deaths are the result of “suspicious activity” or that the bodies, which were recovered from the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, are connected.

On the same day, the Clackamas County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the identity of the missing kayaker was Marcelus Angelo Rodriguez, a 20-year-old man from California who went missing on Saturday, April 12.

That evening, Rodriguez went kayaking on the Willamette River and was later seen in “distress,” according to 911 calls received just before 11:00 p.m. local time, the said in a press release posted on April 17. “A short time later, witnesses stated the individual, a lone adult male, was seen going over the falls and did not resurface,” police wrote.

More than two weeks later, Rodriguez’s body was recovered from the Willamette River, authorities confirmed.

On Sunday, May 4, officers were dispatched after reports came in about a body along the shore of the river, “just north of Meldrum Bar Park in Gladstone,” according the sheriff’s office. “The deputies then found the body in “a difficult to reach location along the shoreline.”

“The Marine Unit was able to access the location using boats and recover Marcelus,” officials continued, adding that “family notifications have been completed.”

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office had no other information to add. The Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office and Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Per reports, the recovery is one of many. According to  six bodies have been found near bridges and Swan Island in the Willamette River since April 13,  while two bodies were recently recovered from the Columbia River.

Multiple factors contribute to the discovery of bodies in the spring time, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday, pointing to increasing water temperatures, the rate of water currents and a swell of activity on the water.

“NEVER enter this river without wearing a life jacket or, at the very least, exercising extreme caution,” the family continued, “ as the forces of nature can quickly become overwhelming and deadly.