Task Force Called Out After Scalp Found Remote Area Near Mount Spokane Searched After Dog Brings Home Scalp

Fri., Aug. 28, 1998

By Adam Lynn adaml@spokesman.com

Spokane’s serial killer task force searched a remote area near Mount Spokane on Thursday after a dog brought home a piece of human scalp.

The 3-1/2-hour search turned up no body, and task force leaders will meet today to decide what to do next.

“We got out here as fast as we could today and did as much as we could,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Cal Walker, a member of the task force. “We need to reassess the situation.”

Walker said the search probably will resume in the next few days.

The task force is investigating the slayings of more than 20 women since 1984. Detectives believe eight of the victims were killed by the same killer or killers.

All of the serial killer victims lived high-risk lifestyles, either working as prostitutes or using illegal drugs.

At least one woman who fits the victim profile is missing. Melody Ann Murfin, 43, hasn’t been seen since May.

The dog that found the scalp lives at a home near Mount Spokane Park Drive and Holcomb Road, an area where the bodies of two other women have been found since 1992.

Its owners called police after the dog came home about noon carrying a hunk of scalp with some hair attached, said Spokane police Capt. Steve Braun, a task force commander.

By 12:30 p.m., nearly 40 detectives and volunteers, some with bloodhounds, were scouring the woods along Mount Spokane Park Drive and Holcomb, Randall and Feehan roads.

“Since we’ve found a couple of bodies out here in the past, we decided we better come check it out,” Braun said.

Searchers found some animal bones and deer carcasses, but no human remains, Braun said.

“If there’s a body out here, an animal could have transported it for miles,” he said. “It could be miles from here. We just don’t know.”

Detectives could not tell much about the scalp. It was seized as evidence and probably will be analyzed by a medical examiner today.

The task force is investigating the slayings of the two other women who were found in the vicinity, even though they haven’t been tied to the serial killer.

A hiker found Sherri Palmer’s body along nearby Bill Gulch Road in May 1992. The 19-year-old woman had been shot in the head and chest and a bag had been pulled over her face.

Two boys getting off their school bus discovered Shannon Zielinski’s body in June 1996 near Holcomb and Mount Spokane Park Drive. The 38-year-old woman had been shot to death.

Both women had worked as prostitutes.

This sidebar appeared with the story: MURDERS For more information about the unsolved murders of women in the Spokane area, go online at www.spokane.net/newstracks

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