Body Found at Cle Elum Resort
Scene where woman's body was found at Suncadia Resort in Kittitas County
A construction worker digging a trench, turns up a body buried in a shallow grave at the high end of Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum.
The Kittitas County Sheriff's office says a backhoe operator discovered the body early Monday morning.
The worker was digging a trench near a golf course at the Suncadia Resort, when the equipment made a gruesome discovery.
"He brought the bucket up and noticed what turned out to be an article of clothing and could see that there were some skeletal remains there," says Undersheriff Clayton Myers.
The skeleton turned out to be that of a woman buried less than two feet in the ground. Investigators put up several tents to cover the area where the woman was found.
They believe the woman may have been buried there as early as 2002. Undersheriff Meyer isn't calling the area a crime scene yet.
Investigators are looking for jewelry, other clothing, anything that might help them identify the woman. Police will also scour missing persons files to see if the body found yesterday will help solve any cold case out there.
"Though we don't know who this person is, at some point we hope to be able to identify her, and get some sort of closure for the family," says Myers.
But it'll be a slow process to find answers and a resolution for any family.
The undersheriff says it'll take several days to move the body in order to preserve any evidence at the scene that may help solve this case.
Police believe the body was buried after 2002 because there were no roads leading to the area until construction began for Suncadia during that year.