{"id":2409,"date":"2010-10-08T14:49:39","date_gmt":"2010-10-08T21:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=2409"},"modified":"2010-10-08T14:59:14","modified_gmt":"2010-10-08T21:59:14","slug":"breaking-news-morton-teenager-died-by-homicide-coroners-office-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=2409","title":{"rendered":"Breaking news: Morton teenager died by homicide, coroner’s office says"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter
\n<\/strong>
\nCHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has determined 16-year-old Austin King’s death was a homicide.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin King<\/p><\/div>\n

The body of the Morton area teenager was found in July off a logging road a month after he disappeared from his home. It took until mid-August for authorities to confirm, though DNA, it was indeed the teenager.<\/p>\n

Austin was reported missing June 24. He was initially classified by the sheriff’s office as a runaway, and two or three weeks later re-labeled endangered-missing.<\/p>\n

Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris said today the results of an examination by a forensic anthropologist were reviewed by the pathologist who conducted the autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.<\/p>\n

All the necessary reports were back in the coroner’s office last Friday, Harris said. “It is a homicide,” Harris said.<\/p>\n

Elected Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson put it this way: “Yes, that’s the way it looks right now,” Wilson said. “There’s an ongoing investigation.”<\/p>\n

The coroner’s office is not releasing the cause of death at this time at the request of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n

The teenager was last seen by his mother Christy Harper at about 12:15 a.m. on June 23 when he said goodnight to her and went off to his detached bedroom outside of their mobile home with two buddies to watch television.<\/p>\n

His body was found off a logging road some 10 miles from the family’s home in the Tilton River Mobile Home Park. Austin did not have a car, according to the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n

A memorial service for Austin will be held tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the gym at Morton High School. A potluck will follow, according to Austin’s mother.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

To read previous coverage of Austin King’s case, see below:<\/p>\n

\u2022 “Breaking news: Morton area body confirmed as missing teenager Austin King, sheriff’s office says” from Friday Aug. 20, 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 “Park filled with mourners for missing Morton teenager Austin King” from Saturday July 24, 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 “News brief: Specialist to help examine body found near Morton” from Thursday July 22, 2010
\n<\/a>
\n\u2022 “Vigil for Morton teen still on; body found yesterday not identified” from Wednesday July 21, 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 “News brief: Body of male found near logging road outside of Morton” from Tuesday July 20, 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 “News brief: Sheriff’ office seeks tips to find missing teen” from Thursday July 1, 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 “Morton teenager remains missing” from Thursday July 1, 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Also, Roy Stemman, a writer in the United Kingdom, published a story, “Psychic guides searchers to teens body<\/a>” in his Paranormal Review on July 27, 2010 after interviewing psychic Sonya Grace and Morton resident and search organizer Jennifer Mau, founder of the local chapter of Guardians of the Children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has determined 16-year-old Austin King’s death was a homicide. The body of the Morton area teenager was found in July off a logging road a month after he disappeared from his home. It took until mid-August for authorities to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-2409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2409"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2414,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409\/revisions\/2414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}