Lack of evidence in ‘95 slaying blocked trial

Published 10:54 pm Saturday, September 13, 2008

SULTAN — The detectives followed the clues.

Store receipts, empty Budweiser cans, four bullets, a spent round, a utility knife and a pager.

A month after the bullet- riddled body of Kevin Moyen was found on the side of a rural Sultan road in October of 1995, the clues led Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives to an Everett man.

The man, 25, was charged with Moyen’s murder. But the charge was dropped and the man was set free.

Prosecutors declined to take the case to trial. They decided there wasn’t enough evidence to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the suspect was responsible for Moyen’s death. If they lost, they wouldn’t get a second chance.

More than a decade later, the case remains open.

Moyen is featured on the four of diamonds as part of the state’s first cold-case playing cards. Thousands of decks of cards have been provided to inmates in jails and prisons around the state. Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives are hoping the cards will drum up new leads for unsolved homicides and missing persons cases that date back to the 1970s.

Moyen, 37, had moved from Connecticut to south Everett about a month before his death. The father of two planned to work on fishing boats in Alaska but he got seasick, his mother told The Herald in 1996.

He and a friend were living in an RV park on Highway 99 and working at a cabinet shop in Woodinville.

Moyen left work early on Oct. 2, 1995 for a dentist appointment. His body was found two days later off Cedar Ponds Road between Monroe and Sultan.

He’d been shot multiple times.

His car, a yellow 1981 Plymouth Reliant, was found on Colby Avenue.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Gregg Rinta and Stanwood Police Sgt. Rob Palmer, both homicide detectives at the time, investigated Moyen’s slaying.

Rinta believes there are people who have information that could help prove who killed Moyen.

“Anyone out there who remembers the circumstances, we’d like to hear from them,” Rinta said.

Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.

About this series

Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives created the state’s first deck of cold-case playing cards. Each Sunday for a year, The Herald is publishing a story about a case featured on one of the cards. The 52 cards can be viewed at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet.

Anyone with information about unsolved homicides or missing persons cases is asked to call 800-222-TIPS (8477). Up to a $1,000 reward is offered.

Tips also can be left on the sheriff’s tip line at 425-388-3845. Callers may remain anonymous, although tips have been more successful when callers speak with detectives, police said.