Washington State Mysteries

  The Clark County Sheriff's Office is  asking  for the public's help in solving a 1970s cold case involving a teenager once known as the "Fly Creek Jane Doe." Detectives are hoping the public can provide them with more information about Sandra (Sandy) Renee Morden, who they said disappeared when she was 16 years old. The case began when unidentified remains were found in 1980. The remains were identified as Morden in 2019 through DNA analysis of samples provided by her family members, the sheriff's office said in a statement. Detectives have learned thus far that Morden was born in San Francisco on April 29, 1962 to parents Andrew Bain Morden and Kathryn Irene Morden.  Following a 1971 divorce, Andrew was granted primary custody of his daughter, officials said. But due to Andrew's job responsibilities as a deckhand on tugboats that required him to be away for up to a week at a time, his daughter was often placed in the care of others. She lived with various f...

 From The Everett Herald: Bones are those of missing Granite Falls teenager October 2006 VERLOT — Bones found Tuesday on Mount Pilchuck are those of a Granite Falls man missing for more than a year, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner reported this afternoon. The skeletal remains of Brandon Riley Kempf, 19, were discovered Tuesday by two hikers on the north side of the mountain. Kempf was last seen in August 2005 near Blue Bridge on the Mountain Loop Highway. His clothes were recovered on the bridge, but until last week there was no sign of the Granite Falls teen. The cause of death remains under investigation, according to the medical examiner. The case has been treated in court as a homicide. ADVERTISEMENT 0 seconds of 0 seconds Volume 0%   Prosecutors on Sept. 29 dismissed a second-degree murder charge against a Lake Stevens man who had been charged in connection with Kempf’s death. Aaron J. Hillman, 20, was released from the Snohomish County Jail after spending more than...

  Alan Edward Dean in about 1993 (left), and in 2020. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office) After treatment, charges refiled in 1993 murder of Bothell teen Alan Dean’s public defender argued the case should be dismissed again since the defendant’s competency likely can’t be restored. By  Jake Goldstein-Street Thursday, March 10, 2022 4:43pm LOCAL NEWS BOTHELL             EVERETT — After almost 1½ years in a state psychiatric hospital, murder charges were refiled this week against Alan Edward Dean, the suspect in the 1993 killing of Bothell teenager Melissa Lee. In a case that had gone cold for nearly three decades, Dean, now 64, was  arrested in connection with Lee’s death in July 2020  with the help of forensic genealogy research. A used cigarette butt linked Dean to the long unsolved killing of Lee, who was 15 when she died in April 1993. He was 35 at the time. Last week, an assistant state attorney general wrote to deputy prosecutor Cra...