Seven-Year-Old Oak Harbor Girl’s Death May Remain Mystery

There are more questions than answers in the mysterious death of a 7-year-old girl who disappeared a week ago today while walking to school.

Deborah Palmer’s body washed up at Strawberry Point east of town, where an unidentified citizen spotted it Monday. The area was about seven miles from where a volunteer searcher found her jacket and backpack Sunday.

The first-grader had been in the water for some time - “more than three days before her discovery,” said Robert Bishop, the Island County coroner.

“She probably wasn’t alive over the weekend,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly” barring a confession.

An autopsy found the cause of death was “consistent with asphyxia, and the manner has been determined to be homicide,” said a Tuesday release from the police department.

“There was no obvious sign of sexual assault; however, this is still being investigated as a sexually motivated crime,” the department release said. While some articles of clothing were not found, the child’s body was not nude, it said.

Asked whether the child had drowned or been strangled or smothered, Bishop and police spokesman Sgt. Jerry Baker declined to be more specific.

Additional tests are under way, Bishop said.

“We’re not finished. There’s still a lot of work to be done,” he said, adding, “She’s my top priority.”