Snohomish County Sheriff's Office: Homicide Victim, 1977 John Doe, Identified 45 Years Later

Edmonds WA

16 June, 2022

9:47 PM

Description

Press release from the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office: June 16, 2022 SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. – After 45 years of working to identify a John Doe, Snohomish County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit - Cold Case Team, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office, and Othram Inc. have positively identified him as Blaine Has Tricks. Blaine, a 38-year-old man from North Dakota, disappeared in 1977 after living in Spokane, Wash. for several years. In 1974, Blaine hopped a train with his brother to Spokane and went transient to the state of Washington. He was last known to be in the Spokane area in February 1977. Blaine was never heard from again and was not reported missing. On September 7, 1977, a bulldozer operator discovered human remains in the Marysville Landfill. The Snohomish County Coroner's Office called the decedent "John Doe" under Coroner's case number 77-9-683. Snohomish County Coroner Bob Phillips said it appeared that the decedent had been deceased for about two weeks. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office investigation determined that the refuse in the landfill was not residential trash but came from business dumpsters in downtown Seattle. On September 8, 1977, Dr. James F. Lipo performed an autopsy and noted extensive post-mortem trauma due to the compaction during transport and bulldozing processes at the landfill. The cause of death was undetermined due to the trauma and post-mortem interval, and Coroner Phillips classified the manner of death as Homicide. The Seattle Police Department and the King County Sheriff's Office were contacted since it was believed that the decedent came from a dumpster in downtown Seattle, and several missing persons were ruled out by circumstances and dental records. Verle Red Tomahawk, Blaine's Nephew This press release was produced by the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. The views expressed here are the author's own.