What the Hell is Going On On the Esplanade?!

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Portland police have found two bodies on or near the Eastbank Esplanade since 10:30 am, and it's insane.

The police bureau sent out a release just after 11 am, announcing a man was spotted this morning below a drainpipe just north of the Burnside Bridge. Cops think the man was a 48-year-old who may have been inside the drainpipe—you've got to assume for shelter, though no one's saying that—"prior to being pushed out by rainwater and being discovered this morning. "

An autopsy is scheduled tomorrow.

A rare enough occurrence, but then the cops just announced a second body—this of a woman who was found on the esplanade just south of the Steel Bridge around 3:30 pm. Police aren't sure who she is or how she died.

"There does not appear to be any connection to the earlier death investigation of a 48-year-old male along the banks of the Willamette River," the latest release says.

Update, Friday 9:15 am: Police sent out an updated release last night explaining they believe the woman "suffered a medical event which resulted in her death." There's an autopsy planned today.

Update, Friday 12:45 pm: Cops now say the woman found dead yesterday on the esplanade was only 26, and homeless. The police bureau hasn't released her name, but says she wasn't attacked.

Cops also have confirmed the man discovered near a drainage pipe Thursday morning also was homeless.