Cold case: Teen died after arson at foster family’s home

LYNNWOOD — Only a swatch of skin across his chest was untouched by fire.

Gary Hinkley was tortured by the heat and flames that raced through the Lynnwood house where he lived in 1975 with a foster family. Burns covered his arms, legs, back and face.

The 17-year-old boy survived for a month before his body gave up.

Fire investigators ruled the deadly blaze an arson. No one has ever been held responsible for setting the fire or killing Hinkley.

The nearly 34-year-old homicide investigation remains open.

Hinkley’s death is part of the state’s first deck of cold-case playing cards. The teenager is featured on the six of hearts.

Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives created the playing cards to hand out in the state’s jails and prisons. Inmates are offered a reward for tips that help detectives catch killers.

Detectives hope the cards will generate new leads for unsolved homicides and missing persons cases that date back to the 1970s.

Hinkley’s homicide is the second oldest in the deck.

Sheriff’s detectives weren’t able to locate Hinkley’s parents to let them know they haven’t given up on finding the boy’s killer.

The boy still deserves justice, investigators said.

Hinkley first went to a foster home in Edmonds in 1972, according to the case file. Three years later, he was living with another foster family when a fire broke out in a house in the 3400 block of 177th Place SW in Lynnwood.

Two other children escaped the blaze. Firefighters pulled Hinkley from the burning building and raced him to the hospital.

Burns covered about 85 percent of his body.

“The only part that wasn’t burned was a spot on his chest,” sheriff’s detective Jim Scharf said. “Everything else was burned.”

Detectives want to hear from anyone who has information about the fire. They also are interested in hearing from anyone who has information about other fires in the area around the same time, Scharf said.

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