‘A time of shock and grief’

Mary Cooper nurtured children. She taught them to read and to love the beauty of books and the places a good story could take them.

Her daughter, Susanna Stodden, also gave to children. She showed them the world outside the classroom, among the trees, mountains and waters. She cultivated their connection to nature.

Cooper, 56, and Stodden, 27, became victims Tuesday of homicide, reported the Snohomish County medical examiner. No other details were released.

A hiker found their bodies on a popular trail to a scenic sub-alpine lake in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

The pair’s family and friends on Thursday released a statement about the case, along with a photograph showing the mother and daughter embracing atop the summit of Mount Dickerman in 2004. It’s just a few miles away from where they died.

“In a time of shock and grief, we would like to focus on the tremendous positive legacy left by this extraordinary mother and daughter,” the statement said. It went to on to say Cooper is survived by her husband David, and Stodden by her father and two younger sisters, Elisa and Joanna.

Cooper was the librarian at Alternative Elementary II School in Seattle’s Sandpoint neighborhood.

On a small cardboard box outside the school Thursday afternoon, visitors were greeted by a mournful tribute to a well-loved librarian. The message was surrounded by stickers of butterflies, hearts and angels.

“Mary in the library, the nicest person in the universe, you will always be in our hearts,” a hand-lettered sign read.

Cooper made a point of greeting parents and students with a warm smile each morning, said political consultant Mark Funk of Seattle, whose children attended the school.

“She was a person who reached out to kids at that school,” said Funk, a former journalist and onetime spokesman for Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon. “She knew when our 8-year-old, Casey, came in what sort of books he would want to be checking out. She would work with him on finding the right baseball book, or finding the right book about how to make paper airplanes. She had a passion for teaching.”

Earlier this year, Funk and his family attended the school’s annual auction. They purchased for their sons a trip with Cooper to a reading by a children’s author.

“We were thrilled about that. She liked both Casey and Charlie very much,” Funk said.

Cooper hadn’t yet chosen where to take the children. She was taking her time to pick just the right author, Funk said.

“Whoever did this has taken somebody very special from us,” he added.

Like her mother, Stodden lived her life in service to others and in what she believed, the family said in the statement.

She had worked for the Audubon Society in Seattle, and also had jobs in salmon-stream enhancement and outdoor education. In 2003, she spent time volunteering in the politically turbulent mountain nation of Nepal.

“Susanna was dedicated to nurturing positive relationships between children and the natural world, and her commitment to peace was evident in her compassionate nature,” the family’s statement said.

The FBI may join the case if it is determined that the killings occurred on federal forest lands, FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said. The FBI has spoken with officials in the sheriff’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office about potential role for federal agents, Burroughs said.

Detectives at the sheriff’s office have declined to publicly discuss how they believe the women died.

Police said Thursday they have no suspects in the case.

They continued to urge anyone who was in the area of the Pinnacle Lake trail on Tuesday or visiting other hiking destinations on the east shoulder of Mount Pilchuck to call the sheriff’s tip line.

As of Thursday night, detectives had received about 30 tips, Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Rich Niebusch said.

Cooper and Stodden were last seen alive at the Pinnacle Lake trailhead about 10 a.m. Tuesday About 41/2 hours later, a man called police from a nearby campground to report the discovery of their bodies.

The victims’ Dodge Caravan minivan was found at the site.

Investigators have declined to say what evidence they collected at the scene or if a weapon was found.

The sheriff’s office added extra patrols to the area and is urging hikers to use caution, Niebusch said.

Tuesday’s killings are not the first involving victims who were recreating in the wildlands near Verlot.

A fisherman was killed on a Forest Service road near Granite Falls in 1996 when he stopped to help a teenager who flagged him down. Another was ambushed and shot to death in 1990 by a man he stopped to help while driving along the Mountain Loop Highway outside of Darrington.

Tuesday’s deaths, however, confounded veteran forest officials, including wilderness and trail manager Gary Paull, who has worked in the national forest since 1988.

Paull said he has seen and heard of numerous trail accidents over the years. He’s also aware that the bodies of homicide victims from nearby cities are sometimes dumped on federal forest land.

“I can’t recall anything that sounds like this incident,” Paull said.

The deaths bring a chill to outdoor trips, said Mark Glidden of Everett Mountain Rescue.

“I think people are going to definitely hesitate … until they find out more,” he said. “We all hope we find out more so we will feel more comfortable going out there.”

Heading into the mountains is one way people can honor the memories of two extraordinary women whose journeys were cut short, the family of the slain women said.

“In their memory, may people continue to walk the trails in peace and without fear,” the family’s statement concluded.

Herald writers Jim Haley and Jackson Holtz contributed to this story. Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@ heraldnet.com.