EVERETT — As Thanksgiving approached, David Stodden knew he wouldn’t be sitting at the dinner table with his wife and daughter as they had done so many times before.
He figured he’d head to south Seattle and stand beneath a tree, a cedar Susanna Stodden’s boyfriend planted in her memory.
Susanna always had loved the outdoors. She’d worked for the Audubon Society in Seattle. The tree is a place for her father to remember her and his wife during the holidays.
David Stodden thinks about them a lot at this time of year. Earlier this week he took out a half-page newspaper ad, hoping someone will come forward with tips they’d be willing to pass along to Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives or to speak to him directly.
“Nine Years, No Justice,” the ad began in large, bold letters.
Mary Cooper, 56, an elementary school librarian, and her daughter, Susanna Stodden, 27, were found fatally shot July 7, 2006. They’d been hiking on the Pinnacle Lake Trail on Mount Pilchuck east of Granite Falls.
The case remains under investigation, but there are no new developments, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
Stodden said he likes to believe someone will share the truth about the shootings and might now be willing to come forward. It could be a former girlfriend or an acquaintance of the shooter who might now be in a better position to disclose information or suspicions.
“Maybe there is someone who knows something,” he said.
Information about the killings can be passed along through the sheriff’s office tip line at 425-388-3845.
Stodden also included his own cellphone number in his ad in case people aren’t willing to call police. That number is 206-280-8748.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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