Forensic testing has confirmed that human remains found in an Eastlake greenbelt in December 2011 belong to a homicide victim killed earlier in the year.
In December, a group of homeless outreach workers found trash bags filled with human remains underneath the Ship Canal Bridge near Fairview Avenue E. and E. Allison Street in the Eastlake neighborhood. Detectives have determined the appendages found in December belong to a 53-year-old man whose torso was found in a Georgetown recycling plant in July.
“We’ve been able to link the two sets of remains,” says Seattle Police Department Homicide Unit Lieutenant Steve Wilske. “They are from the same person.”
Lt. Wilske says the case is still under investigation, but notes that detectives believe it was “not a random act.”
Update: Homicide detectives have clarified that the remains were linked to the 53-year-old homicide victim through forensics, rather than DNA testing.