WA WA - Mount Si, WhtMale 30-60, UP14867, camping gear, glasses, Nike shoes, knife, Jun'15

The King County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in identifying skeletal remains found on Mount Si.

On June 16, two off-trail hikers came across what they believed to be human, skeletal remains near the “haystack” on Mount Si.

The King County Medical Examiners Office determined that the remains were human. It is believed that the remains are from a Caucasian male, 30 to 60 years old, and was likely 5-foot-7 to 6-feet tall. No cause of death has been determined at this point.

Found with the remains were a pair of tortoise shell glasses, a Swiss Army watch, and an Ortovox shovel, the sheriff’s office said. Also found were a green Jansport backpack, a pair of white Nike high-top sneakers, size 12, and a black leather wallet that contained no identification.

Anyone with information on the identity of the remains or items pictured should call the sheriff’s office at 206-296-3311, or send tips to mcutips@kingcounty.gov

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http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/human-remains-found-on-mt-si-are-unidentified/

I Submitted David Mekvold's name to the email address indicated in the article.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/mekvold_david.html



I'm not sure that they are the exact same glasses, but they look very similar.

Furthermore, his other particulars are very consistent with the description given.

• Although he was last seen in Portland, OR, his vehicle was found in a secluded area in Skamania County Washington.
• His height (5'9") is consistent with the estimated height of the John Doe (5'7" to 6'0")
• His age (42) is consistent with the estimated age of the John Doe (30-60)
• He has been missing about 4 1/2 years (i.e., since December 2010), which would appear to be approximately consistent with the level of deterioration of the watchband.

Carl, I didn't think the glasses were a match, until I opened it with windows photo viewer. Your guy looks pretty spot on.

CarlK90245 said:

I Submitted David Mekvold's name to the email address indicated in the article.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/mekvold_david.html

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I received a reply from the detective:

Thanks Carl, I will pass this along to the Detective, however, our missing is possibly from the early 90’s so it’s probably not Mr. Mekvold, however, we will certainly rule him out scientifically just to make sure.

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A couple of thoughts:

Roger Jung: admittedly taller than this UID, but the description of going hiking without telling folks where he was going might fit the circumstances here.

Rory Shoemaker: wish there were a better pic of him, but the glasses, height, age and circumstances seem to fit.

Could this be Paul Jackson? If he was on the run and trying to make it in the wilderness, could he have simply succumbed to the elements?

http://amwfans.com/thread/39/paul-jackson-oregon-1990

[video=cnn;tv/2015/07/20/the-hunt-john-walsh-paul-jackson-orig.cnn]http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/22/us/paul-jackson-the-hunt-john-walsh/index.html[/video]

Just saw the Paul Jackson case on The Hunt with John Walsh. A post above states the detective believes the King County remains may be from the early 90s. Go figure that this time period was when Paul Jackson failed to show up for his trial.

jjohnston0827 said:

Could this be Paul Jackson? If he was on the run and trying to make it in the wilderness, could he have simply succumbed to the elements?

http://amwfans.com/thread/39/paul-jackson-oregon-1990

[video=cnn;tv/2015/07/20/the-hunt-john-walsh-paul-jackson-orig.cnn]http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/22/us/paul-jackson-the-hunt-john-walsh/index.html[/video]

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Fugitive Paul Jackson was arrested in Guadalajara Mexico after 24+ years on the run. http://whotv.com/2015/09/29/hunt-fugitive-paul-jackson-captured-accused-of-kidnappings-and-rapes/

I am not sure how many people are following this case. It would be good to identify this man and connect with his family.

I'm fairly confident none of the people mentioned above are a match. I've submitted one missing person who was a great candidate to the detective. The ME ruled them out through dental records.

I want to pass on some additional theories I have developed on this case.

- the subject was visiting Washington, and not a local (reason: the REI gear in his possession that he purchased probably during the trip, the rest of his gear not looking so much like a local experienced in hiking)

- the subject grew up in Asia or some third world area (I can't share the reasons for this, though the glasses form a small part of it)

- the subject went missing (and died) in late winter/early spring (reason: local conditions, people get caught by the late snow storms -- and the fact he bought a snow shovel to take with him - not a very common accessory to hike Mt Si....)

- the subject went missing sometime between late 1994 and let's say 1998 (reason: age of items found with body, condition of body)

I have a further theory (this one is slightly sketchier) that the subject was visiting from a foreign country. Because this piece of the destination wasn't known to family or authorities, a missing person report was never filed locally (to where he was found).

What I'm looking for is missing person reports that fit the above criteria (and height/weight/age but let's be honest those things are estimates from the ME).

If anyone knows of any consulates or embassies (especially Asian or "third world") in the US that may have reported missing persons matching this (either to a city or to the FBI), I think it would be extremely helpful. There is a missing person report SOMEWHERE that matches this subject.

This is most likely an accidental death (though suicide and homicide are still outlying possibilities). Right now identification is the missing link.

What was this guy doing in that area wearing Nikes???

Anyone know if this is a high-end Jansport pack, or the sort used by school kids?

More questions than answers here, for sure.

Laughing said:

What was this guy doing in that area wearing Nikes???

Anyone know if this is a high-end Jansport pack, or the sort used by school kids?

More questions than answers here, for sure.

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It is very common for people to go on this trail ill-prepared. The fact that he took a snow shovel, but had the wrong footwear tells me that he was not only poorly prepared, but that he was probably not local.

This was most likely a winter, or late winter death. (the snow shovel is the clue)

What I really need help with is missing person reports that may have been filed with consulates or embassies by foreign next of kin and how they would have gone to LE.

Not every local missing person report is in the national missing persons database, btw. (that was where I found the prior candidate that didn't match)

This JD now has a Namus case #, UP14867:

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/14867

Here are all Namus white males aged 30-60 missing in Washington in the early 90s:

http://tinyurl.com/jt529pk

Searching specifically for a watch, shovel or glasses generated nothing.

creepedout said:

This JD now has a Namus case #, UP14867:

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/14867

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Thanks very much for that -- I am subscribed to it, but totally forgot to post it.

creepedout said:

Here are all Namus white males aged 30-60 missing in Washington in the early 90s:

http://tinyurl.com/jt529pk

Searching specifically for a watch, shovel or glasses generated nothing.

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Thanks!

We need to exclude anything before 1994, and (probably after 1997-8 or so - this I am less sure about) need to cast the net far wider than WA - again the clues point to him bring from either out of town or (less likely) of the country. Working assumption is shovel was bought locally (in the county the body was found).

Also we want to widen the search in terms of height/weight/age. The MEs estimates are a good start but there could be errors on the missing person report.

Does the site you linked to source data from namus?

I'm not saying the missing person report isn't in namus, but we've had a pretty good look through them, the the one possible hit we got came from there (but was ruled out through dental).

What would be really helpful (to me...) would be news reports of missing persons that's aren't in namus - especially foreign visitors (this is my own theory, not any official disposition).

I'll definitely take a 2nd pass through namus because the first pass I set some fairly tight ethnicity criteria.

The ME assigned to this case is a well known forensic anthropologist. If the missing person case has dental that would be a big help, though (I'm not an expert on this) there may be other ways to identify for a subject which is considered to be a good prospect (X-rays, mitochondrial DNA).

Keep it coming!

The site I linked to above, https://lostandfound.revealnews.org/, scrapes all of its data off of Namus. You can adjust the parameters to what you want and then copy the web URL to share the results. (I cut the URL shorter by using TinyURL also.)

Here's another link with the years corrected, age range slightly widened and showing all cases in the Pacific area:

http://tinyurl.com/hvhw5of

Thank you and thank you!

I'm unable to edit my prior post, but it sounds like this "3rd world/Asian" angle was a miscommunication or misunderstanding on my part, now that I've talked to the ME again. They've also looked closer at the remains again, still not sure on cause of death. I think the personal effects are still good clues. The timing of death I suggested is still probably a good start. I am still big on the "out of towner" theory, especially as we have no local missing persons that match up, and it does match up with buying items at REI, but not the right things. Again if anyone has any good missing person candidates I can screen them and get them to the detective.

Here's a direct link to the article: http://q13fox.com/2016/05/19/remain...ll-a-mystery-123-in-state-still-unidentified/

"Her case is one of 123 people whose remains have been found but who are still unidentified. For example, a hiker found a man’s remains last June near Hay Stack on Mount Si.

The mystery man was wearing a pair of Nike shoes popular in the '90s and had REI camping equipment with him. A new composite also created by Murry shows what he may have looked like"