By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
This news story was updated at 11:17 a.m.
A homeless man was found dead inside a tent on the hillside off Kresky in Chehalis yesterday afternoon.
Police say there were no obvious signs of trauma or a struggle but are investigating.
Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer in a news release described him as in his mid-60s and a client of the state Department of Corrections.
Community corrections officers found him dead when they went to check on him after he missed an appointment earlier in the day, according to Shaffer.
The fire department and police were called about 4:30 p.m. to the camp, in the trees about 150 yards east of Kresky along the 2200 block near the Lewis County Mall.
His identity has not been released.
Chehalis detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said the individual is not someone he is familiar with. He probably hadn’t been dead more than a day or so, McNamara said.
The man had been pretty routine about showing up at DOC’s Chehalis community corrections office, said Scott Albert, the supervisor there. The office is in the Lewis County Mall.
“I would see him here regularly Monday around 8 or 9 a.m.,” Albert said this morning.
The deceased, who Albert said was 67 years old, has been under their supervision for two years after getting out of prison. He was incarcerated in July 1999 and was a level one registered sex offender, Albert said.
It’s not unheard of for some of their clients to be homeless or live in tents, according Albert.
“He was homeless, he didn’t have any resources,” Albert said. “A lot of people get labeled as a sex offender and nobody wants to house them,” he said.
The man had been in prison for first-degree rape of a child, he said.
It appears he was compliant with the conditions imposed on him and had about a year more of being under their supervision, Albert said.
One lane of Kresky was shut down until about 9:30 p.m. as police conducted their investigation.
The cause of death is yet to be determined but at this point in the investigation appears to be related to natural causes, according to police.
Both the fire department and Albert indicated it initially didn’t appear as a natural death, for reasons they didn’t specify. McNamara said there was a little blood around his nose and mouth.
Police will treat it as suspicious until they determine otherwise, according to McNamara.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter