Cold case: Man’s body was found dumped in lot
Published 11:37 pm Saturday, July 19, 2008
LYNNWOOD — A Herald newspaper carrier made the grisly discovery just after dawn.
A man was lying face down in a dirt lot, shirtless and barefoot. A torn, blue cloth was wrapped around his neck.
His last breath was long gone.
There was no wallet in his Levis jeans pockets, just a key chain. Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives asked for the public’s help to identify the man dumped on the side of a suburban street.
Investigators eventually learned his name. They haven’t found whoever strangled him.
Robert Kerr, 43, is on the 10 of spades in the state’s first deck of cold-case playing cards. The 5,000 decks feature 52 unsolved killings and missing persons cases being investigated by police in Snohomish County.
The cards have been provided to jail and prison inmates in hopes they will call detectives with tips that could lead to the arrest of a killer.
Police in Florida have been using cold-case playing cards for a few years. Homicide detectives have solved a handful of homicides using tips from Florida inmates who saw cards and called police.
The cases featured on the Snohomish County cards date back to the 1970s. They are giving hope to families who crave justice for their mothers, brothers, grandmothers and children.
Kerr was found July 12, 2003 in a neighborhood of big houses. Based on the lack of evidence found at the scene, detectives believe he was probably killed somewhere else and dumped in the dirt lot.
“We don’t have anything that ties him to the Lynnwood but there’s a possibility the suspects had ties to the area,” sheriff’s cold case detective Dave Heitzman said.
Kerr hadn’t been there long. He had spoken to his sister a few days before his body was discovered. He recently moved into the Paul Revere Apartment building on Capitol Hill in Seattle. After his death, investigators searched his apartment for clues. Someone had gotten there before them. The television, VCR and stereo system were missing.
One man spent time in jail for stealing Kerr’s belongings.
Detectives hope to hunt down whoever stole his life.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
