Montana nightclub owner drowned in Elliott Bay

A Montana nightclub owner died of drowning in Elliot Bay, but police still don’t know how the former Seattle resident ended up in the water off Pier 57.

Police investigators say the death of Aaron Bolton, 36, is an apparent accident, but they have not ruled out homicide or suicide. He was in Seattle to pick up some speakers for his Missoula nightclub, Badlander.

His mother, Joy Eiland, told The Seattle Times Bolton lived in Seattle when he was in his 20s, playing in a band and working as a bike courier and briefly for Microsoft. Eiland said Bolton loved the water, in part because he spent summers as a child with his grandparents in Pensacola, Florida.

Bolton’s body was found in the water early Monday morning. The King County Medical Examiner listed the cause of death as drowning.

A friend says Bolton was an excellent drummer, a music enthusiast, and promoter who turned his nightclub into the center of Missoula’s music scene.