Everett man dies at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center

By Kristin M. Kraemer / Tri-City Herald

CONNELL — Corrections officials are investigating the death of a 30-year-old prisoner from Everett who may have been injured in the head during a fight with another inmate.

Matthew Patrick Kinzer died Nov. 12 at Kadlec Regional Medical Center, four days after he was admitted to the Richland hospital.

Kinzer had been locked up at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell.

Kinzer was from Everett, according to his Facebook page.

An employee at the prison told the Tri-City Herald it may be a homicide because there was an assault on Nov. 7.

However, Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary said he has not yet determined the cause of death.

The autopsy was done Monday at the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office.

McGary said the pathologist thought it would be good to study Kinzer’s brain a little more because he had a head injury.

Experts should be able to look at the tissue and see what kind of trauma he had, whether accidental, natural or something else.

McGary said it will take about two to three weeks for the histology report to be completed, along with a separate toxicology report on any possible substances in Kinzer’s body.

In the meantime, Kinzer has been released to the family so they can make funeral arrangements, he said.

Kinzer was sentenced in February to three years and seven months in prison for a second-degree burglary conviction in Snohomish County.

Online court records show Kinzer also had four prior burglary convictions.

Investigators with the Department of Corrections are looking into Kinzer’s death.

It is not known if the department has identified a suspect in the prison unit. But the employee, who asked that his name not be used, told the Tri-City Herald that the possible perpetrator was moved into segregation.

Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant said he is aware of the death and the investigation, but nothing has been forwarded to his office yet to review for possible charges.