Man's body found on jogging trail in Parkland, WA
PARKLAND, Wash. - A homicide investigation is underway in Parkland, after the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said a man's body was found on a jogging trail.
"He’s a Hispanic male, mid 30s. We have not been able to identify him, hopefully with some info we’ve received from neighboring communities, we do hope to identify him soon," Deputy Carly Cappetto, Public Information Officer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.
She told FOX 13, at first, deputies conducted a welfare check, but their investigation quickly took a turn.
"When deputies arrived, they were able to confirm that this was not a natural death, and we are deeming this as a homicide," Cappetto said.
She’s not able to say how the man died, but did say no weapons were found.
"We’re just in shock that it was 60 feet from our house, our front door and kind of scary because we walk our dogs there and so do a lot of people," Sarah Simmers, who has lived in the area for five years, said.
She said she didn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary. "It’s kind of crazy that it’s such an open area and high traffic, and we do have a lot of homeless people living. There’s a creek that runs through, so they live over there, so we do have a lot of high traffic and a lot of characters, but it’s unfortunate and disappointing that it happened at a local park," Simmers said.
It's not the news neighbors wanted to hear, especially just five days into the new year. "We definitely don’t want to be so close to a dangerous place or where violence is happening, especially if we want to start a family, so it makes us think twice about this area," Simmers said.
If anyone knows anything about this Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, they want to hear from you.
Last year, the first homicide investigation didn’t happen until March of 2024, according to Cappetto.
She told FOX 13, they do not believe there is any threat to the surrounding community and they do not have any information about a suspect at this time.
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