Police ask public for information about Spokane man who went missing in May, was found dead in June

The Spokane Police Department is asking the public for help tracking down information about a confrontation Richard Coffee had at a Walmart in Spokane before his disappearance on May 11.

Coffee’s body was discovered in the Spokane River on June 1, and police have been working to determine what happened in the final hours of his life.

The last place Coffee was seen alive was at the North Colton Street Walmart, where he had a confrontation with a man detectives have been unable to identify.

According to family and detectives who watched surveillance video of the exchange, Coffee walked up to the driver’s side door of the man’s truck and asked him to turn off his headlights, which were beating through his back window.

The video shows the man switched them off, only to turn them on again once Coffee got back into his car.

The men began to argue and the man called Coffee a homophobic slur, according to a phone conversation he had with his mother following the exchange.

In a statement Wednesday, police said the man on the surveillance footage is not a suspect or person of interest but could shed light on the origin of Coffee’s disappearance.

“He is the last person that talked to Ricky,” said Fredia Arocho, Coffee’s mother. “We just think maybe even the littlest thing might be the hint of something more.”

Anyone with information on Coffee’s disappearance can call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.