The coroner and his deputies take a look at a casket stuck in a creek off the Newaukum River just east of Onalaska.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
ONALASKA – The caravan left the coroner’s office at 8:30 a.m., sharp, today.
Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod and nine members of his team set out on a mission to retrieve a casket discovered partially submerged in a creek last weekend, get it opened up and deal with whatever they found inside.
If it contained somebody’s loved one, the work would begin to figure out who it was and how to get them and their coffin back into their original burial plot.
If it was empty but suspected of once containing a body, McLeod would still have to find out who the previous occupant was, where they had previously been laid to rest and then tell their family that the remains had likely slipped out and been carried downstream.
When he visited the site earlier this week, he could see the lid was damaged, and knew it was possible any remains had been swept away.
The area, a little more than three miles east on state Route 508, beyond Onalaska’s center, has seen flooding several times in recent years.
The hope was, McLeod would find clues that the steel container was the one that once belonged to a pirate.
A SeaFair pirate, who until a few years ago lived near the South Fork of the Newaukum River, with the help of his wife, transformed a never-yet-used casket into fancy outdoor storage for bottles of liquor, ice and whatever bounty such men would need when they sat around a campfire and smoked cigars.
Susan and Pat Patterson lost their casket-turned-bar after a flood several years ago.
The property where they once lived is, as it turns out, one or two addresses upstream from the caravan’s destination.
Robert and Robin Bryan relocated last summer to a home on seven acres on the south side of state Route 508.
He said today, a neighbor notified him the other day he’d found a casket in the creek behind their home. His wife said they needed to report it to authorities.
“I told him, if there was somebody still in it, they needed respect, needed dignity,” Robin Bryan said.
The caravan arrived just before 9 a.m. to the Bryan’s property, and with shovels in hand, the coroner’s team set out.
Robert Bryan and his 8-year-old granddaughter Crystina Rollins, accompanied them down a brushy, muddy path to the creek.
“You can see it just beyond that sink,” he said.
Previous flood events have left a variety of odd objects in the shallow creek.
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The bottom side of the river-colored steel casket shows an orange-ish tint. Deputy Coroner Sarah Hockett says she can’t see inside, even though it appears one half of a “split-top” may be missing.
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Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod sees the arriving half dozen members of Lewis County Search and Rescue just before 9 a.m. and points to their target.
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Deputy Gabe Frase, red plaid, brings a cable out to attach to the coffin. Chains are wrapped around it. A couple of neighbors have joined those on the creek’s bank to watch.
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Deputy Sgt. Alan Stull pilots the Polaris four-wheeler, a piece of equipment obtained from the military, which has been outfitted with “tracks” to replace its wheels. He revs up the motor as he begins to pull, and the casket starts to rise from its resting place.
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The news media is there.
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Stull pauses, as deputy coroners decide they must dig around the casket first to loosen it further from the grip of the creek bottom. Stull then resumes pulling it toward him.
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The casket has been flipped right side up. “I’ve always wondered what’s in that,” Onalaska Elementary School third-grader Crystina Rollins says. “I’m hoping nothing.” Deputy Curt Spahn pries up the top of the casket.
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They see a mound of mud and gravel inside.
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The see what they think is an ice bucket inside. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Coroner’s Office
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Bingo. They pull out pieces of particle board, with holes bored out, just the size a bottle of rum could sit in. Mystery solved. “This is good,” McLeod says. “We didn’t want it to be somebody.” The time is 10 a.m.
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Deputy coroners examine the interior further. I don’t know why. Maybe hoping to find some pirate loot.
They decide to leave the casket where it lay.
“It’s not occupied, so I don’t have a problem with it,” Robert Bryan said.
The members of the search and rescue team return to their day of winter training elsewhere in the county.
Long time coordinator of the group, Sheriff’s Deputy Gene Seiber said, before departing, he does not recall the Patterson’s pirate casket turning up after the big 2007 flood.
If several years from now, the container is swept away again and found again, it won’t be a closed casket that causes another mystery, since it doesn’t have a lid, Seiber suggested.
Robin Bryan brings out cinnamon rolls for the coroner’s group.
Mission accomplished.
Postscript: Robin Bryan calls a news reporter to say she informed her landlord of what transpired. The landlord handles the estate of the man who previously resided there, and has died, she said.
“She got quite a laugh out of it,” Robin Bryan said. “She said, ‘It’s still there? He knew all about it.’ ”
The former owner had discovered the casket on his property at one time in the past, and reported it, Robin Bryan said. And then it was just left there, she said.
“She got a big laugh out of it, and said I’m so glad you handled that,” she said.
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For background, read:
• “Coffin discovered in Lewis County creek” from Tuesday February 17, 2015, here
• “Search and rescue to attempt recovery of partially submerged coffin” from Friday February 20, 2015, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Lewis County is a sovereign county. Meaning: they can disregard any laws and make up new laws as they go.
They get this right and power from the Federal Government.
If the Federal Government wasn’t a part of the corruption that keeps Lewis County the “Inbreeding and Meth Using Capital of the World”, they would put a stop to the abuse of constitutional rights.
But that’s obviously not the case.
it clearly states In the washington state gold and fish pamphlet that u can’t. remove one shovel full of gravel out of a creek bed this time of year without an HPA permit.and you are never to have a power saw or a four wheel drive in a creek bed…so my question is if we the people have to listen to the laws that are made why does the county employees not have to listen to the same laws
And that is why Warren McLeod is an excellent coroner and public servant.
Keep up the good work sir.
What’s even more funny is that the people disparaging the poor are probably ex-felons and drug abusers.
Ony Res: The answer to that is we would be liable for not responding appropriately. Also personally I would feel that I had let a family down by not handing the coffin the way we should have.
What is funny is that the negative naysayers on here are probably on government assistance!!
Worst case question for our Coroner: what could have been the legal or financial consequences for Lewis County if the coffin *did* have a body in it, and the county authorities did not check it out before deciding it was okay to leave it in place where it was?
T Orr:
Good for you! As a taxpayer you have a duty to question elected officials on how your money is being spent.
We have a monthly, mandatory training at our office and the staff is paid for 2 hours to attend. This coffin exercise was held in place of that mandatory training and there were only five paid staff there. The rest were volunteers (reserves). The cost of paying those five staff for 3 hours of using the event as an exercise cost this office, and hence you the taxpayers, $86.00 less than what we pay for the mandatory monthly training.
I take the responsibility of taxpayer funding very serious and agree they should not be spent frivolously and that is why the coffin recovery replaced our monthly training.
Warren McLeod
Lewis County Coroner
So instead of giving any examples WHY this was a smart use of taxpayer resources, all anybody can do is resort to name calling and snide remarks.
Stay smart Lewis County.
Next year, when that coffin washes up in someone else’s yard, you can waste a bunch more tax payer funds on another game of ‘playing in the creek’.
I Just paid my taxes and I think it’s fucking hilarious!! I think it’s great that nobody found a stiff in the thing. Get the fuck over yourselves, shit turned out well and the right thing was done. Get a grip Negative Ned and Nancy.
So blowing tax-payer funds on unnecessary and useless ‘training exercises’ is doing a ‘good thing’… SMH
At least they will be prepared the next time a coffin is found!
Only in Lewis County.
Stay positive people!
Holy crap. You folks are the biggest collection of whiners I have ever seen. Both agencies used this as training exercise. It seems whenever law enforcement or other county agencies does a good thing people still find ways to criticize.
The taxpayers of Lewis County should be outraged at such a waste of time and resources. But, that would be expecting too much.
That Seems like a lot of people for 1 casket.. when 1 dog could of told em weather there was a body in it or not..not to mention the environmental laws that were broke we,ll digging in the creek this time of year without a H P A permit for any reason.I see a power saw and a 4 wheel drive in a creek .for things that we the people would be fine to hell and back for doing ..so just because the law does it does not make it legal…just a nother waste of the tax payers money.for them to have a fun and games Day…because it’s always fun to play in the.Creek
Pat and Sue Patterson along with the rest of the family are still laughing about how their Pirate Bar has been found again.
And we didn’t call the landlord 1st because?
The event was treated as a training exercise by all agency’s involved. LC-SAR, LCSO, and LCCO.
this is very funny! Now I need a casket, myself. I’m thinking, it should make a great geocache.
This story is amusing, but sending ten people to open a casket seems like a bit of overkill.