@tnith thanks for the local knowledge. Is it the kind of area someone would pull into from a major road to dump a body? IYO is it an area mostly locals would know about (making it more likely the killer was local)?
I suppose the only reason anyone would pick this area on purpose would be over how deserted it looks? 30 years ago the logging land in the SW quarter of the intersection was clearcut/new growth, an eyesore of young trees and occasional treestump tangles in the distance with craggy logging trails locked behind metal gates. Not very private if one is trying to avoid being spied by passersby on Tanwax or 8th. Just a little ways further past Horn Creek things got more private & secluded.
The actual address given for her dump location has been residential as long as I've known, not logging property. If she was actually on someone's field like it's led me to believe then it should be pretty easy work for detectives to figure out who rented and lived there? On one hand it's not unheard of to bring in deer to dress but the smells carry as this is a fairly moist/swampy zone. It would have really stood out if someone tried to hide her around all these homes! Especially as kids around there always noticed these things and gather each other on little bike trail missions for a thrill.
As to the routes through this SW part of the county & use:
This is almost exactly halfway between both of the nearest towns both east & west respectively, neither are particularly remarkable stops except for gas, diner, local church/es.
To the west there is the patrolled 570 which has a ton of mixed traffic as there's more towns along it, a reservation, and it heads out to Olympia. Sometimes local delivery, short haul trucker or logging company used this byway but commercial freight stuck strictly on the I5 much farther west, lots of weight limits and height restrictions on this route.
To the east there's Mountain Highway East (7) which carries mainly residential traffic to and from the area of Elk Plain through rolling soggy ranchland meadows about 10 miles, then twists past Ohop valley out to Alder lake (not unusual for bored kids to drive all this way at night to party). It's unusual to see any township LE around this stretch, a lot of older and working couples, families out here, trailer and modest homes alongside nice retiree nests.
The 3rd main drag is more of a long haul with regular commuters, state highway LE & some trucking traffic, called Meridian East (161) that extends from Puyallup (south hill mall & loads of oversized developments to most of us) down to halfway point Graham (directly east of Elk Plain), then much more quietly on to the quaint village of Eatonville (directly east of Mckenna, which is really what the dump site is a 'suburb of' than tiny Roy which is farther north. But we digress.)
Something that should be understood is that most of the locals are pretty average churchgoing active community member families and farmers who watch out for their own, but there's also whole pockets where the drugs, drama & burglaring overflow with ne'er do well nephews, cousins, what have you in laws spread out over family parcels closer to Mountain Highway/7. Busts a few times a year or brothers shooting each other, locals having to bring in animals during full moon or holidays to avoid them being shot at or taken & tortured (always a lot of that in McKenna in the fall). That kind of stuff. You know you're close by their haunts because the streetlights are always shot out or they drag race at night with each other & leave skid marks.
There's been a popular convenience store called 4 Corners just westward from where this doe was found a mile or 2 toward McKenna. Most of the local gas stations have lurkers resting before moving on when the roads let up, due to lack of traffic lights. Once in awhile you'd see younger people asking for rides out.
Despite having some school bus service, almost nobody walks along or alone on the main E-W roads traversing these main 3 routes as all of these roads are flanked by lots of overgrowth & shallow muddy ditches, so it's hard to avoid traffic. A few homes have their own trails but those have to be made as the only time it dries up even a bit is around July, otherwise footwear is getting soaked and stained trying to clamber about in the brush.
Do hope this helps rather than hinders feeling out this site in relation to the larger zone it's in.
