Serial Killer Case Has First Suspect Man Was Last Person Seen With Woman In West Side Murder

For the first time since they began hunting for a serial killer 10 months ago, Spokane detectives released information about a possible suspect Thursday.

He is a white man in his mid- to late 30s, about 6 feet tall with strawberry-blond hair, said sheriff’s Capt. Doug Silver, co-commander of Spokane’s serial killer task force.

The man, whose identity is unknown to investigators, was the last person seen with a Seattle woman before she was killed three years ago.

The body of Patricia L. Barnes, 60, was discovered in southern Kitsap County on Aug. 25, 1995.

Barnes lived a lifestyle similar to those of the Spokane murder victims and was killed in a similar way, Silver said at an afternoon press conference.

For those reasons and others they won’t discuss, detectives believe the man she last was seen with may be connected to the murders of seven women in Spokane and one in Tacoma since last November.

A ninth woman, who has been missing since May, also has been classified as a serial killer victim even though her body has not been found.

“We cannot say if this (Kitsap) case is definitely related to the serial killings, but it’s close enough,” Silver said. “This is the closest we have to an individual that we can focus on. I consider this a very good lead.”

On Thursday, the task force released a composite sketch of the man drawn by a Kitsap County artist three years ago.

It shows him wearing his hair short on top, longer in the back. Kitsap County detectives described it as “slicked back” in 1995.

Silver said the man may have changed his appearance since then by growing a mustache or choosing a different hairstyle.

The drawing was distributed to the Puget Sound media in 1995 but produced no solid leads.

Spokane’s task force has been studying unsolved homicides from across Washington as part of its investigation.

Detectives became aware of the Kitsap County connection only recently after they reviewed the Barnes case, Silver said. A Spokane investigator then traveled to Bremerton to talk with Kitsap County authorities.

Barnes was a homeless woman who frequented the area around Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle. She was known as “the towel lady” because she almost always wore a towel or bandanna around her head to hide scars she suffered in a fire, according to newspaper accounts.

Her nude body was discovered wrapped in a sleeping bag and dumped in a ditch near some woods in a sparsely populated area just north of the Pierce County line.

Barnes had suffered massive head trauma, according to newspaper accounts. Silver said Thursday that she had been shot.

Most of the victims of Spokane’s serial killer also were shot, stripped and dumped in out-of-the-way places. Many were covered with debris. Michelyn Derning, whose body was discovered in east Spokane in July, was concealed under a hot-tub cover.

They also were familiar with street life, either working as prostitutes, using illegal drugs or both.

Silver noted that there are several differences between the Kitsap County case and the other murders, including the fact that Barnes is more than a decade older than any of the serial victims. They ranged in age from 24 to 47.

Kitsap County detectives also theorized that Barnes was killed for a $300 welfare check she received shortly before her death. No arrests were ever made in the case.