TACOMA, Wash. — The body of a man was found at a walking preserve in Pierce County. Now the search is on for the man’s killer.
The grisly discovery was made just after 7:30 this morning in the Parkland Prairie Nature Preserve on Yakima Avenue South.
The body of a man believed to be in his 30s was found in the brush.
This is an area well-used by neighbors. Some of them refer to it as a dog park. Plus, it was found in an area not far off the trail.
The discovery of the body of a man is unsettling news in this quiet neighborhood in the 13000 block of Yakima Avenue South.
“We’ve had cars on fire out here, abandoned cars,” said Sarah Simmers, a neighbor. “We have a lot of homeless people who live in this creek area back here. And a lot of drug action. Not surprised, unfortunately.”
But Simmers says there’s never been anything quite like this.
“This is the first time we’ve had someone who was murdered, in our, basically in our front yard,” she said.
Pierce County Sheriff’s detectives scoured the scene for clues. They received a call at 7:36 Sunday morning for a welfare check on a man, found in the tall grass inside the Parkland Prairie Nature Preserve. They say it was clear he was dead and had not died of natural causes.
“No weapons were found at the scene,” said Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputy Carly Cappetto. “Definitely the cause of death is being considered a homicide.”
Deputy Cappetto says they know little about the victim beyond that he is in his mid-30s.
“We have learned that they are from the area,” Cappetto said. “So, we still don’t have an identification of the male.”
Still, a troubling development on this fifth day of the new year.
“Yeah, it’s sad for our community,” Sarah Simmers said.
According to the Pierce County Sheriff, this is the first homicide of the new year. But it comes after five people were found murdered in Pierce County in the last week of 2024.
Now they are asking anyone who has information about what happened here to come forward.
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