PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Pierce County authorities have closed the decades-old disappearance of 13-year-old Jeffrey Klungness after DNA confirmed his remains, but the man suspected in his death, Martin Malcolm, had died before charges could be filed, the prosecutor’s office announced Wednesday.
The case dates back to March 1996, when Jeffrey’s mother, Susan Klungness, was found dead in her home while her husband, Ronald Klungness, was at work.
Susan had suffered multiple blunt force injuries to her head and body.
Malcolm, who was a trusted family acquaintance and handyman, was the prime suspect.
On the day of Susan’s killing, Malcolm was seen at the Klungness home and later spotted driving Susan’s vehicle with Jeffrey as a passenger.
Surveillance footage from that day showed Malcolm taking Jeffrey to get a haircut and withdrawing money from a bank. Jeffrey was never seen again.
Malcolm had a violent history. In 1980, he was convicted of stabbing and killing his wife and injuring two of her friends in the same attack. He served 12 years in prison before being released in 1992.
The Klungness family met Malcolm through their church, and he became a regular presence in their home, helping with household tasks and spending time with Jeffrey.
However, Susan reportedly grew uneasy about his relationship with her son and felt he was overstaying his welcome.
Jeffrey’s whereabouts remained unknown for years until October 2017, when mushroom pickers in unincorporated Pierce County’s Greenwater area discovered a skull fragment.
Despite an extensive search, no further remains were found at that time.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner and a forensic anthropologist examined the fragment before being sent to the FBI Laboratory for DNA extraction.
The skull showed signs of blunt force trauma and was determined to belong to a male teenager.
Cold case detectives revisited the Klungness case, suspecting the remains could be Jeffrey’s.
In August 2020, mitochondrial DNA testing confirmed a match between the skull and Jeffrey’s half-sister.
A month later, another area search uncovered a fibula bone and clothing items, all in the same location.
Further DNA analysis at Bode Technology and the University of North Texas confirmed in November 2021 that the remains belonged to Jeffrey Klungness, biologically linking them to his parents and maternal half-sibling.
Before the prosecutor’s office could formally charge Malcolm, investigators learned he had died of natural causes in August 2022 at the age of 67 in Thurston County.
In March 2025, the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office issued its final postmortem report, confirming the cause of Jeffrey’s death as multiple blunt force injuries to the head and ruling it a homicide.
Prosecutors stated that Malcolm would have been charged had he been alive, but with no surviving suspect and the case thoroughly investigated, they considered it resolved and officially closed.
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