MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — A man was found dead Wednesday morning in a sleeping bag wrapped in duct tape alongside an I-5 off ramp, officials said.
The death is being investigated as suspicious, Mountlake Terrace police Chief Scott Smith said.
The man, believed to be in his mid-to-late 40s, was not immediately identified.
There were no obvious signs of homicidal trauma, Smith said. The body was found just after 11 a.m. about 10 feet from the side of the southbound I-5 off ramp to 220th Street SW.
The man appeared to be clean, well groomed and his clothes weren’t dirty, Smith said. Police do not believe the man was a vagrant.
“It’s not an area where a transient is going to set up camp,” Washington State Patrol trooper Keith Leary said.
Grey duct tape was wrapped around the feet area of the light-weight cold-weather sleeping bag, he said.
“That’s something that you don’t see,” Leary said. “It doesn’t look normal.”
State Department of Transportation workers replacing a light bulb discovered the body lying near the bottom of a light pole, Leary said.
Snohomish County Fire District 1 medics responded to the scene and confirmed the man was dead, spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said.
Detectives worked in the cold temperatures Wednesday to collect evidence.
“Our focus right now is to process the crime scene,” Smith said.
Holiday traffic on I-5 was slowed as crews closed the off ramp for a few hours Wednesday afternoon, Leary said.
Detectives were working to try to figure out what happened, he said.
“They’re trying to determine why and how this person got there. That’s their questions,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Mountlake Terrace police at 425-670-8260 or 911.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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