Body was tied up, police say

The hands and feet of a partially decomposed body discovered in south Spokane County were tied, investigators revealed Tuesday.

A woman reported finding the body in a wood pile late Monday afternoon in the 14600 block of South Darknell, near Fairfield.

Spokane County sheriff’s detectives are investigating the death as a homicide, spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said. The body wasn’t removed until Tuesday when investigators were able to tape off a crime scene area and conduct their investigation under better-lit conditions.

The victim’s sex and the cause of death will be determined by an autopsy, which will likely be performed today, Reagan said. However, it is possible additional tests will be needed to identify the person.

Original reports that the body was a man may be incorrect, Reagan said.

A 2004 homicide in that area remains unsolved.

The body of Catherine Louise Avis was found in a brush-filled area at the edge of a wheat field southwest of Valleyford, according to previous Spokesman-Review reports.

Avis, then 40, was reportedly last seen alive on the evening of May 28, 2004, near Second Avenue and Cedar Street. Her body was discovered two months later in a field in the 8800 block of East Elder Road.

Her mother reported her missing on June 16, after not seeing her for a month.

Avis’ bloody purse, a striped cloth bag, was found by a couple discarded along Hangman Valley Road and turned in to police at the end of May 2004, according to previous reports. The details of Avis’ death weren’t released other than that she died of “homicidal violence.”

Reagan described the state of Avis’ body as being more mummified than the one found Monday.

Detectives do not think there’s a connection between the two homicides, Reagan said.