Sketch Rings Up Tips For Task Force More Than 100 Callers Offer Potential Leads On Serial Killer

Residents deluged Spokane’s serial killer task force with tips Friday after detectives released a composite sketch of a potential suspect in the case.

More than 100 residents called before noon with information about the white man with strawberry blond hair, said sheriff’s Capt. Doug Silver, co-commander of the 13-person task force.

Telephones in the task force’s headquarters at the Public Safety Building continued to ring throughout the afternoon.

“I’ve taken five or six calls myself,” Silver said. “We’ve gotten everything from the specific - ‘I know who that person is’ - to the general - ‘I saw that guy yesterday.”’

Residents also called or sent e-mail tips to Spokane media.

People told reporters that they’ve spotted the unidentified man in buses and pickup trucks, on street corners, at shopping malls - even in the house next door.

One doctor called The Spokesman-Review on Friday morning, saying he saw the man on a flight from Portland to Spokane two days ago. “I swear it was him,” he said.

Another woman said she snapped a picture of the man’s pickup truck in 1989 as it cruised along East Sprague.

Detectives confirmed none of the information Friday, and no arrests were made.

Silver said the task force is prioritizing the tips and will be checking each one. At the same time, he warned people not to focus solely on the man depicted in the sketch released Thursday.

The person of interest, in his mid- to late 30s, was reportedly the last person seen with a homeless Seattle woman before she was murdered three years ago.

The nude body of Patricia L. Barnes, 60, was found wrapped in a sleeping bag and dumped in a ditch in southern Kitsap County in August 1995. She had been shot.

Task force detectives said the way Barnes lived and died is similar to that of the nine victims attributed to Spokane’s serial killer since last November.

Most of those women worked as prostitutes, used illegal drugs or both.

“We don’t have anything yet that ties (the Kitsap suspect) into Spokane,” Silver cautioned.

“We don’t want to give people the impression that it’s safe to go up and talk to strange men on the street. It’s not.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: TIPS SOUGHT IN KILLINGS The possible serial-murder suspect is described as white, in his mid- to late 30s with strawberry blond hair. He is about 6 feet tall and has a medium build. He was the last person seen with a Seattle woman before she was murdered in 1995. Anyone with information about the man or the serial killer case should call Crime Check at 456-2233 or toll free at 1-888-211-4980.