Multiple gunshot wounds killed the person who was found in the trunk of a burned vehicle along a Forest Service road near Randle on April 13, the Lewis County Coroner’s Office reported this week.
An autopsy showed the manner of death was homicide, according to a news release.
The remains, Coroner Warren McLeod confirmed on Wednesday, are from a male. At this time, he said the office has “no information on who the person may be to compare dental X-rays to.”
Because of this, the forensic odontologist has compared the remains against dental records of Logan Scheineldman, a man who went missing in South Thurston County in 2016. The records did not match.
Next, they are scheduled to compare the remains against Stephen Barton, 54, a man who went missing out of Rochester in March of this year. Searches for him by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office are still ongoing.
“We have absolutely no information about who this could be, and not being able to begin to gather ante mortem (before death) dental X-rays, it is due diligence to rule out missing persons,” McLeod said. “This helps us know we do not have those folks, and more importantly it lets their families know as they are still waiting and hoping for any word on their missing loved ones.”
On April 12 at 7:44 p.m., a deputy with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a report of a burned vehicle in Randle. The remains were discovered by a tow truck driver sent to impound a burned vehicle 3 miles off Forest Service Road 25 just after 11:50 a.m. on April 13.
According to Dusty Breen, field operations chief with the sheriff’s office, the driver noticed the remains through a hole in the trunk and called law enforcement.
Both McLeod and Breen said the remains were consistent with being in the vehicle at the time it was burnt, suggesting it was not placed inside the trunk between the time of the initial response and the time when the vehicle was towed.
“Investigators are continuing to follow up on the vehicle,” Breen previously told The Chronicle. “If anybody has information related to that case, obviously please contact our office. If they noticed a suspicious vehicle in that area or any other information.”
He previously declined to provide more information about the vehicle.
To contact someone about this or any other case, call the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286 or Lewis County Communications at 360-740-1105.
