(Alice Williams photo courtesy Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
The victims in two cold cases have been identified, with detectives using genetic genealogy to help families find some closure.
Since 2005, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Cold Case team has worked to solve these cases. Detective Jim Scharf credits volunteers with helping them research records that revealed they had more unsolved cases than they originally thought. “Over time, now,” Scharf says, “we’ve learned that we’ve got 103 cold cases dating back to 1951.”
One of them is Blaine Has Tricks, who hopped a train to Spokane from North Dakota with his brother in the early 70s. They separated, and the brother returned home, while Has Tricks stayed here and went to Seattle in 1977. His body was found in a Marysville landfill that year, and it was so traumatized from bulldozing and compacting at the landfill that a cause of death could not be determined, although it was originally classified as a homicide because of the circumstances. After years of trying and failing, Othram Labs in Texas was able to put together a DNA profile they could put on GED Match, which led them to relatives in North Dakota. Two nephews provided DNA samples, and that gave the cold case team what it needed to confirm Has Tricks’ identity.
Scharf says they weren’t able to figure out how he died, but he says considering Has Tricks had some drunk in public and disorderly conduct charges on his record in Spokane, and that the trash he was in came from businesses in downtown Seattle, it’s possible he was passed out in a dumpster when it was picked up for disposal.
It was a similar case for Alice Williams, who disappeared from her Lake Loma home in 1981. Only a part of her skull was found by US Forest Service surveyors in a steep ravine near Skykomish – no other remains, no clothing, no jewelry according to detectives. It also took several tries to get useable DNA from her remains, but eventually Othram Labs was able to get enough to construct a profile that was also uploaded to GED Match. Williams’ adult children were found and provided DNA that confirmed her identity.
Detective Scharf says DNA can be immensely helpful, but it can also be hit or miss. Scharf says, “Any day it’s like the lottery. Somebody else could upload their DNA and we could get a brother that we match to.” To do it, he says they need more people to upload DNA to those public sites.