It was unusual for Ostynn Farrier to be out driving very early in the morning, especially when he was scheduled to work later in the day.
So when his father, Ed Farrier, got a call from a representative of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office sometime between 2 and 3 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2022, asking if Ostynn Farrier was at home, Ed Farrier was concerned.
“I said, ‘No, why?’” Ed Farrier recalled in an interview with The Chronicle this week. “And he said, ‘Well, his truck is in the ditch down here, on fire.’”
Unbeknownst to Ed Farrier at the time, Ostynn Farrier was in the backseat of that burning truck.
The sheriff’s office was called at 2:40 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2022, to respond to a fully-engulfed vehicle in the 800 block of Larmon Road in Onalaska, according to sheriff’s office Field Operations Chief Dusty Breen.
One of the responding deputies had previously encountered Ostynn Farrier and recognized the burning vehicle as his, Ed Farrier said.
After the call from the sheriff’s office, Ed Farrier called nearby relatives to try and figure out where his son was, ultimately going down to Larmon Road to watch fire crews and sheriff’s office personnel work to put out the burning truck.
“I had no idea he was in that truck,” Ed Farrier said, adding if he’d known, “I would have hurt my hands. I would have busted the windows. I would have done anything.”
The autopsy later confirmed Ostynn Farrier had ash in his lungs, indicating he was alive and breathing for at least some time while the truck was on fire.
“I think if anybody ever opened the door, he might be alive today,” Ed Farrier said.
Crews did find Ostynn Farrier in the vehicle while they were putting out the fire, but it was too late. He was declared dead at the scene at the age of 26.
The Lewis County Coroner’s Office later determined Ostynn Farrier’s cause of death was thermal injuries and inhalation of products of combustion.
Because his death was directly caused by the fire, Ostynn Farrier’s manner of death is undetermined until investigators determine the cause of the fire, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office. If the cause of the fire is determined to be arson, for example, the manner of death would be homicide.
Law enforcement and fire personnel immediately initiated an investigation to determine the cause of the fire, with then-Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Detective Emmett Woods at the helm.
While the detective didn’t reveal sensitive information about the case, Woods would take the time to visit Ed Farrier, ask questions about his son and give him general updates.
“He would come here to my house, at like seven o’clock at night … and I even got worried about it because he has kids,” Ed Farrier said.
Those visits from Woods gave Ed Farrier confidence that his son’s death investigation was in good hands and progress was being made toward resolution, he said.
But, a few months later, Woods stopped visiting.
“I didn’t know why,” Ed Farrier said. “I just tried to contact him and couldn’t get him.”
Eventually, Ed Farrier learned Woods was no longer employed with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and someone else was handling the investigation.
For the next 10 months or so, Ed Farrier heard nothing from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office about the investigation, he said.
Worried he wouldn’t live to see his son’s case resolved after receiving a lung cancer diagnosis earlier this year, Ed Farrier decided to start speaking out about his son’s death. He submitted a letter to the editor to The Chronicle in April and agreed to sit down with a Chronicle reporter on Tuesday, May 9.
In anticipation of the meeting, The Chronicle asked the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office for an update on Ostynn Farrier’s case on Monday, May 8.
Shortly after 10 a.m. on Tuesday, during Ed Farrier’s interview in his home, a phone call came from a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy, who let Ed Farrier know he had recently been assigned to Ostynn Farrier’s case.
At 10:35 a.m. on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office replied to The Chronicle’s inquiry to say detectives had just held a meeting regarding Ostynn Farrier’s case, which the sheriff’s office stated is under active investigation.
“It seemed like he was very serious about getting things done,” Ed Farrier said about the deputy he spoke with on the phone Tuesday.
Ed and his son, who he affectionately calls “Ott,” were very close, going camping together during Ostynn Farrier’s childhood, working on projects and hunting together when Ostynn got older.
A lifetime Onalaska resident, Ostynn Farrier started working at the age of 8 with his own lawn mowing business, and carried a remarkable work ethic throughout his life, his father said.
He bought his own house at the age of 18 and later bought a camp trailer, which was parked near his father’s.
Ostynn Farrier was a dedicated father to his own two young children, and Ed Farrier cherished the times they came to stay at the camp trailer on Ed Farrier’s property, which the kids deemed their clubhouse.
The kids would help their grandparents in the yard, planting tulips that are in bloom today, even with Ostynn Farrier gone.
In lieu of flowers for Ostynn Farrier’s memorial, his family and friends set up an account at Twin Star Credit Union in Onalaska to benefit Ostynn Farrier’s two kids.
Ultimately, $12,000 was donated to that account from multiple sources, including friends, family, Onalaska community members and Ostynn Farrier’s former employers, speaking to the impact he had on those around him.
“I always think about him,” Ed Farrier said.
When asked what having Ostynn Farrier’s case resolved would mean to him, Ed Farrier said, “I’d like to see justice. It would mean that somebody didn’t get away with something that should be taken care of … It isn’t going to bring Ott back, it isn’t going to help me see my grandkids, but it will help. A lot.”
The sheriff’s office investigation update did not ask for tips from the public. In some instances, tips to South Sound Crime Stoppers are rewarded with up to $1,000 in cash and can be made fully anonymously by using the P3Tips mobile phone app, calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or visiting https://crimestoppers.com.
Ed Farrier’s letter can be read at https://bit.ly/Chronline-Farrier-Letter.
