Mystery surrounds discovery of body at Moran State Park
Published 8:01 pm Monday, September 8, 2014
Local authorities hope that dental records will help lead to the identity of a decomposed body discovered in a secluded area of Moran State Park.
San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney Randy Gaylord, who, in his capacity as the county’s elected prosecutor, doubles as county coroner, said that the human remains, discovered Saturday, Sept. 6, in a collapsed tent near the bridge over Cascade Lagoon by a man who happened to be fishing in the area, are clearly that of a man.
A wallet found in the tent contained a Texas driver’s license of a person from the city of Plano, just north of Dallas, but the degree of decomposition was too “extensive,” Gaylord said, to match the driver’s license with the remains.
“We’re hoping that within a week we will be able to test the dental records with those of the person whose wallet was found in the tent,” he said. “The driver’s license provides us with a lead but we’re not able to confirm it’s the same person.”
Gaylord said the cause of death was not apparent from the view of the scene, and that a complete forensic examination will take place at the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“Our first objective is to determine who this is and to notify his family,” he said.
He said that the family of the person belonging to the driver’s license lives elsewhere than Texas, and that the person is not listed on a national database of missing. He declined to give the age of the person on the license.
A medium-sized backpack in nearly new condition was found nearby. Gaylord said it contained a computer, a change of clothes and certificates of graduation from Kansas State University, including a master’s degree in electrical engineering, as well as certificates from other schools. A May 21, 2014 edition of the Seattle Times was found in the backpack as well, but no food or other camping equipment was found at the site.
Established in 1921 and situated on the eastern lobe of Orcas Island, Moran State Park, a 5,579-acre campground, with 121 tent sites, 30 miles of hiking trails and five freshwater lakes, has long been among the most popular public parks in Washington state. The tent containing the human remains was in a somewhat remote, off-trail area outside of the campground, Gaylord said.
