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Frank Member
Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Posts: 318 | TRs | Pics Location: Snohomish |
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Frank
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:03 am
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VERLOT -- He still can't believe they're gone.
Three years since his wife and daughter were killed along a hiking trail near Pinnacle Lake, David Stodden finds them in his memory all the time.
"I still think about Mary and Susanna every minute of my life," he said Wednesday.
Outside in the garden where his wife used to tend the flowers and chat with neighbors, in the woods where his daughter used to teach, along hiking trails where the family enjoyed time together, he finds them, the Seattle man said.
The mother and daughter were found by hikers three years ago Saturday. Mary Cooper, 56, and Susanna Stodden, 27, were fatally shot and left deep in the woods.
No arrests have been made.
"As always, our thoughts and prayers are with Mary's and Susanna's family and friends," Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. "One day we hope to be able to provide them -- and the community -- with answers and justice."
During the past three years, sheriff's officials have received numerous tips, but those tips have slowed down considerably, she said.
"I'm kind of discouraged there's not more progress," David Stodden, 60, said.
The mother and daughter were featured on the ace of hearts in a deck of playing cards distributed to prison inmates. The cards were used in an effort to draw out clues to old, unsolved killings, even though the June 2006 double homicide isn't considered a cold case, officials said.
The file remains with one of the original detectives assigned to the case and is actively being pursued.
"We remain hopeful that we'll get that one break in the case that will point us to the person or people who killed Mary and Susanna," Hover said.
The surviving family members each are coping in their own way.
"We're doing OK," David Stodden said.
Elisa Stodden, 27, has sought solace through friendship and support. She works with middle school students, much like her mother did as an elementary school librarian. Her sister, Joanna Stodden, 24, quietly meditates. She holds the same teaching position Susanna once filled at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.
Next week, David Stodden said he'll attempt to summit Mount Rainier in a fundraiser for a school in Nepal. Susanna once taught in Kathmandu, he said.
On Saturday, family members plan to join friends and loved ones for a candlelight walk around Green Lake, a ritual that began three years ago.
Hover said she strongly urges anyone with information to call the sheriff's office.
David Stodden holds hope that new details will come out that may lead to an arrest.
"Who knows? Maybe someone will come forward," he said.
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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kbatku Questionable hiker
Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 3330 | TRs | Pics Location: Yaquima |
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kbatku
Questionable hiker
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:35 am
Outraged "that it hasn't been solved"?
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I'll save my outrage for the perpetrator thanks. Your suggestion that we should be "outraged because it hasn't been solved" suggests that the police haven't tried to resolve the case, and that is what we should be upset about.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It's a sad, terrible thing that might possibly never be "solved". It upsets me that the murderer is still out there, but sometimes these bastards do get away, no matter how hard the police try to catch them.
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Jason_Martin Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 51 | TRs | Pics
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DIYSteve seeking hygge
Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 12655 | TRs | Pics Location: here now |
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DIYSteve
seeking hygge
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:54 am
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Thanks for posting the lucid comments, kbatku. Frankly, Frank, I think your thread title is a misinformed cheap shot. I have good info that the Snoho Co Sheriff's and Prosecutor's office have toiled very hard on this investigation. Supporting their efforts is the best thing the NWHikers community can do to serve the memory of Mary and Susanna.
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Dave Workman Member
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 3699 | TRs | Pics Location: In the woods, by the big tree |
Concur with Big Steve and kbatku.
There are lots of other things about which to become outraged.
"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." - D.H. Lawrence
"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." - D.H. Lawrence
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MtnGoat Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 11992 | TRs | Pics Location: Lyle, WA |
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MtnGoat
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:32 am
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Outrage is a bit much...disappointment, sadness..but sometimes, there is simply no solution for these kinds of crimes regardless of the best efforts of law enforcement. I've seen no evidence they haven't done their darnedest...and with that, this outrage is like outrage at a rainy day.
Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers
Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers
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Jordan y
Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 559 | TRs | Pics Location: shoreline |
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Jordan
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:54 pm
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This is an unfortunate event and not to turn this into a gun post, but this is why I carry a gun when I hike.
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Dave Workman Member
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 3699 | TRs | Pics Location: In the woods, by the big tree |
"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." - D.H. Lawrence
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DIYSteve seeking hygge
Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 12655 | TRs | Pics Location: here now |
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DIYSteve
seeking hygge
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:16 pm
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Jordan wrote: | . . . not to turn this into a gun post, but this is why I carry a gun when I hike. |
Here we go again.
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Dave Workman Member
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 3699 | TRs | Pics Location: In the woods, by the big tree |
Jordan wrote: | This is an unfortunate event and not to turn this into a gun post, but this is why I carry a gun when I hike. |
Fine. So noted.
Let's keep this on topic.
Guns can go elsewhere. The Guns & safety thread, the Stewardship discussion...
Along the Tinkham road...
"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." - D.H. Lawrence
"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." - D.H. Lawrence
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ArcDome Member
Joined: 30 Jun 2006 Posts: 284 | TRs | Pics
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ArcDome
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:55 pm
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I'm assuming that LE has checked the whereabouts of Gary Hilton at the time of the murders. Gary Hilton is the guy who has been convicted of killing a hiker in Georgia last year and is being investigated regarding several other hiker murders in the Florida/NC areas. I do not recall seeing anything in the local papers whether LE has accounted for where Gary Hilton was during the Pinnacle Lake murders.
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Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
Id think that by now we could all agree that there are simply some crimes that will never be solved! The police aren't supermen. They cant invent or make up evidence that isn't there or doesn't exist. I was outraged at the taking of these two lives and I'm now saddened at/by the reality that this crime will never be solved.
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
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GeoHiker Rocky Walker
Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 6033 | TRs | Pics Location: Off the Deep End |
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GeoHiker
Rocky Walker
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:03 pm
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We've all watched too much CSI I think. Sad as it is, I'm sure LE has done every thing in their power to solve this case. Some times the bad guys get away.
You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye......Eagles
You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye......Eagles
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Dogpatch Member
Joined: 17 Aug 2003 Posts: 1588 | TRs | Pics Location: the dryside |
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Dogpatch
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:29 pm
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I knew Mary Cooper. She was one of those people who bring light into the world around them. As a school librarian, she affected the lives of countless students. She is truly missed.
Frank, thanks for your post - I'll say another prayer for her.
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." – Groucho Marx
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." – Groucho Marx
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sten Member
Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 479 | TRs | Pics
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sten
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Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:37 pm
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Backpacker Joe wrote: | <snip>I was outraged at the taking of these two lives and I'm now saddened at/by the reality that this crime will never be solved. |
may bpj, let's say may never be solved not will never. & in the meantime, hope like hell they get the break they need to solve it even though we know the likelihood decreases every day.
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