‘Top Chef Masters’ Alum Naomi Pomeroy’s Body Found After Fatal Inner Tube Accident

Top Chef Masters alum Naomi Pomeroy ’s body has been recovered four days after her tragic inner tube accident.

Pomeroy died on Saturday, July 13, after drowning in the Willamette River in Oregon. The 49-year-old was attached to a paddleboard while her husband, Kyle Linden Webster , and a third person were on tubes that were secured together.

When they hit rough currents near river mile 132 in Corvallis, Oregon, just upstream from the Mary’s River, Pomeroy was “pulled under the water and unable to free herself due to the paddleboard leash,” the Benton County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) announced on Tuesday, July 16.

The Corvallis Fire Department was unable to recover her body when they arrived on scene, but did locate Webster and the third individual, who were safely on the shore.

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When the BCSO joined the search, they began looking downriver on land and water for Pomeroy. Finally, on Wednesday, July 17, people canoeing along Willamette River discovered a body around 10 a.m. and called 911, the sheriff’s office stated in a press release later that day.

“BCSO marine deputies arrived shortly after, located a deceased female on a shallow section of bedrock near the middle of the river with about one to two feet of water,” the Wednesday release continued. “According to the victim’s description, the female was identified as Naomi Pomeroy, missing since July 13, 2024. Deputies released Naomi to a funeral home and notified her family of the recovery.”

Ahead of her death, Pomeroy, who hailed from Portland, was a big name in the Oregon culinary scene after opening her first restaurant, Beast, in the city in 2007. Two years later, she was named one of Food & Wine ’s Best New Chefs.

She opened a Portland cocktail bar called Expatriate with her husband in 2013. The following year, she won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific.

While Beast closed in 2020, Pomeroy stayed busy, turning the space into a market and bistro called Ripe Cooperative, which closed in 2022. She opened Cornet Custard, an ice cream shop, in May and planned to open a French restaurant next door.