Investigators are looking for connections between a body found a Tenino man’s pickup truck Sunday night and a woman missing from the Yelm area.
The woman, whose name has not been released, may have been in the area of state Route 507 and Mull Road, possibly on the Chehalis Western Trail, when she was attacked, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. A vehicle found nearby is registered to the woman who had been missing since that morning. The exact location of her murder has not been determined.
Bernard K. Howell, 26, a self-employed Tenino meat peddler, was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of second-degree murder and first-degree theft after being pulled over and admitting to an officer that there was a body in the cab of his truck, according to the sheriff’s office.
“No known motive for the murder has been determined,” the sheriff’s office reported. “It appears the suspect did not know the victim based on the investigation so far but more work is needed clarify their relationship.”
Now the sheriff’s office is also looking to see if there could be a link between Howell and Nancy Moyer, the Tenino woman who went missing March 8, 2009, from her home.
Thurston County Chief Criminal Deputy Jim Chamberlain said there is no direct connection linking Howell and Moyer’s disappearance, but said his office will look back as a matter of due diligence.
“We don’t know if Nancy is alive or dead,” Chamberlain said. “If this man killed one person, would he have killed someone else?”
A DEPUTY ON ROUTINE PATROL Sunday night had been flagged down by a citizen saying he thought he saw a man loading a body into a pickup truck near Military Road and state Route 507.
The deputy saw the vehicle and eventually was able to pull the truck over near Parkside Elementary School on Center Street.
After finding the body, the deputy tried to give medical aid until medics arrived. They could not find a pulse and pronounced the victim dead.
The middle-aged woman appears to have been the victim of homicidal violence, the sheriff’s office reported.
An autopsy is planned for Tuesday morning. Investigators are searching the area near Mull Road and state Route 507, looking for the scene of the crime.
