Workers Find Body In Peone Prairie Field Officials Seek Clues After Two Corpses Discovered In Spokane Area On Tuesday

Two men repairing farm machinery on Peone Prairie discovered a badly decomposed body Tuesday evening, about six hours after another corpse was found in Spokane.

The men found the body, thought to be that of a woman, near the intersection of Forker and Judkins roads in northeastern Spokane County about 5:30 p.m., deputies said.

The two were working to repair a hay-baler in a nearby field when they smelled something putrid and went to investigate, said Dave Reagan, sheriff’s spokesman.

“They thought maybe it was a dead deer, and they wanted to see how big it was,” Reagan said.

The body was lying in a patch of high grass near a field access road. The unidentified victim was naked from the waist down and likely had been dead for more than a week, detectives said.

Investigators aren’t sure how the victim died, so they are treating the case as a homicide.

“There are no obvious signs of foul play, but with this location you’ve got to be suspicious,” Reagan said.

Coroner’s officials removed the body Wednesday afternoon, after detectives and Explorer Scouts combed the area for clues. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

Medical examiners determined Wednesday that a woman found dead in east Spokane on Tuesday morning died of a gunshot wound, police Lt. Jerry Oien said.

Detectives still don’t know the victim’s name and are asking for the public’s help, said Dick Cottam, police spokesman.

A man collecting aluminum cans found the body in some weeds about 11 a.m. behind a building in the 1800 block of E. Springfield.

There was blood in a nearby parking lot, and evidence the woman was dragged up a small embankment and hidden in the brush.

Detectives think the woman, the city’s sixth homicide victim of the year, was killed last Thursday.

Cottam said she was white, possibly in her 20s, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, with medium length, reddish-brown hair.

Her toenails were painted with a distinctive blue polish, and she had silver dots on the nail of her left big toe, Cottam said. She also had a tattoo shaped like two flowers on one thigh.

Anyone who knows the woman or has information on the case is asked to call Crime Check, 456-2233.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of area where body was found

MEMO: The body found in east Spokane was identified as Heather L. Hernandez. The body found on Peone Prairie was identified as Jennifer A. Joseph.