Autopsy shows homicide caused death

The Spokane County Medical Examiner ruled that a 25-year-old man whose body was found wrapped in a blanket along Day-Mt. Spokane Road on Sunday morning died from homicidal violence.

The body was found by two women out for a walk, sheriff’s deputies said. The cause of death and the victim’s identity were initially withheld. Investigators were trying to determine the man’s residence and reach next of kin.

The victim likely was killed elsewhere and dropped between Randall and Big Meadow roads Saturday night or Sunday morning, said Spokane County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan.

Investigators would not comment Sunday evening on a possible cause of death or the body’s condition, age or sex.

Reagan said he would provide more details on the case later today following the autopsy.

The investigation on Sunday closed a section of Day-Mt. Spokane Road northeast of Green Bluff during one of the farm community’s busiest weekends of the fall.

The two women who regularly walk along Day-Mt. Spokane Road spotted the body about 10:30 a.m., just off the black-topped road where the gravel shoulder starts to slope downhill, Reagan said. They had walked the same route Saturday evening before dark and didn’t see it then, he added.

The women flagged down motorists to ask to use a cell phone. The first motorist refused and drove away, but a second motorist agreed, and they called 911. A deputy arrived, confirmed that it was a human body and closed the road for investigators.

“We treat all (suspicious deaths) as homicides until we know they’re not,” Reagan said.

Investigators found a wallet near the body with some paperwork in it but no photo identification.