The history of Snohomish County is filled with stories of growth, resilience, and change, but also with tragedies that have never found resolution. These are the cold cases that linger in the public memory, the open files that represent a rupture in the community’s narrative. For the families and detectives connected to these mysteries, the passage of time is measured not in years, but in the persistent absence of answers.
The Courthouse Fire That Turned Political Victory Into Mystery
When flames consumed the Snohomish County courthouse in 1909, the fire was remembered not just as a blaze of destruction, but as a suspicious reckoning for a prize won in controversy. Just 13 years prior, Everett had emerged victorious after a highly controversial election against the long-time county seat holder, the city of Snohomish, an outcome so mired in accusations of fraud from both sides that it required court intervention to settle. It began innocently enough on the night of August 2, when sparks from the J. K. Healy blacksmith shop on Wetmore Avenue ignited a pale and set off a blaze that tore through Everett’s downtown.
The fire spread quickly, consuming the Everett Livery and Transfer Company, the Northern Transfer Company, and the Iles and Newman Carriage Works before leaping to the moss-covered roof of the Snohomish County Courthouse. Firefighters from across the region rushed to their aid, but with too little water and too few men, they were left powerless against the flames. Courthouse staff managed to save records by locking them in fireproof vaults, but the courthouse itself collapsed into ruins.
Then came the fires no one could explain. Just as firefighters had finally managed to contain the devastating blaze, a barn near Hewitt and Hoyt went up in flames, followed by the Wellington Saloon, a stable, and a row of frame buildings in the business district. The pattern was too deliberate to ignore, and many believed an arsonist was at work.
Fire Chief W. Jay Kingsley was even prepared to dynamite a hotel to halt the spread, but a sudden shift in the wind spared it. Several suspects were questioned, yet no charges were ever filed, leaving the city uneasy. In the final toll, 12 buildings were destroyed and three more damaged, with only half the losses insured. The courthouse was rebuilt in 1910, and Everett rose from the ashes, but the courthouse fire endures in legend as a crime without conviction.
A Summer Hike Follows a Trail of Tragedy Through the Pines of Pinnacle Lake
On a warm July morning in 2006, Mary Cooper and her daughter Susanna Stodden set out from their Green Lake home for what was meant to be a simple day hike. Their original plan was to climb Mount Pilchuck, but lingering snow forced them to change their plans at the last minute, switching to the more accessible alpine trail to hike up to Pinnacle Lake. At the trailhead, they casually mentioned their new plan to strangers before heading up the path. By evening, they had not returned. Instead, fellow hikers discovered their bodies on the trail, both shot to death in what investigators later described as an attack that appeared sudden, deliberate, and without warning.
Nearly two decades later, the case remains unsolved. Detectives have pursued leads and interviewed witnesses, but no arrests have ever been made. Investigators believe the attack was a calculated ambush, though the motive has never been determined. The remoteness of the trail, combined with the lack of clear evidence, has left the case shrouded in mystery.
For many in Snohomish County, the Pinnacle Lake murders serve as a chilling reminder that even the most peaceful trails can harbor danger. Authorities continue to hope that someone will come forward with information, but until then, the mystery of who killed Mary Cooper and Susanna Stodden endures.
The Beckler River Jane Doe was Named, but Questions Remain
For over a decade, she was known only as “Beckler River Jane Doe,” a mystery contained within a fragment of skull. U.S. Forest Service surveyors discovered the lone bone in a wooded ravine near the Beckler River in October 2009. Forensic analysis determined it belonged to a woman over the age of 40 and that she had been dead for at least a year, possibly decades.
The nature of the isolated discovery and trauma to the bone led investigators to classify her death as a homicide. Despite numerous searches of the area, no other remains, clothing, or personal effects were ever found. The case grew cold as attempts to extract viable DNA for identification repeatedly failed over the years.
In 2021, investigators made one final attempt to solve the mystery by sending a section of the skull to Othram, a lab specializing in forensic genealogy. The lab’s advanced techniques succeeded where earlier efforts had failed, producing a DNA profile that led to close family matches.
By early 2022, the remains were confirmed to belong to Alice Lou Williams, a woman who had disappeared more than four decades earlier. Her adult children provided DNA samples that confirmed the match, ending years of searching and uncertainty, but it also raised new and troubling questions. Alice had been found, but the circumstances of her death were still shrouded in mystery. No suspect has ever been named, and the trail of evidence has long since gone cold.
A House Fire Turns Into a Home of Homicide in Lynnwood
In the summer of 1975, a house fire in Lynnwood turned deadly for 17-year-old Gary Hinkley. Living with a foster family at the time, he was trapped inside when flames engulfed the home. Two other children in the house managed to escape, but Gary was carried out by firefighters with burns covering 85 percent of his body; only a small patch of skin on his chest was spared. He survived for a month before succumbing to his injuries. By then, fire investigators determined the blaze had been deliberately set, turning a house fire into a homicide investigation.
Today, Gary’s death is remembered as one of the county’s oldest open homicides. A suspect has never been identified, and no motive has ever been established. Detectives have long sought answers, even asking about other suspicious fires in the area during that time. Nearly half a century later, the unanswered questions linger like smoke, refusing to clear.
Dismembered and Scattered Throughout Snohomish County
In July of 1987, the mutilated remains of 47-year-old Stoyan Kolew Jalamov were discovered in the woods east of Gold Bar along U.S. Route 2. His torso and legs were found first, followed days later by an arm on the banks of the Snohomish River. Canoeists would eventually uncover his head near Marysville, completing a grim trail of evidence scattered across the county that painted a picture of deliberate violence.
Jalamov’s background only deepened the mystery. A Bulgarian mobster with ties to international drug trafficking, he had once sought asylum in the United States while being pursued by Interpol. Whispers of espionage and rumors of counterintelligence ties gave his death the air of a conspiracy.
Detectives suspected his murder was linked to the drug trade, but the brutality of the crime suggested something darker. Jalamov’s case became one of three killings in Snohomish County during that era involving dismemberment, alongside the murders of Sun Nyo “Julie” Lee and an unidentified John Doe. Authorities began to wonder if these were the work of a serial killer who had never been caught.
Despite leads, including a man in Eastern Washington who allegedly confessed to dismembering a roommate with a thick accent, no charges were ever filed. Nearly four decades later, the killing of Stoyan Jalamov remains unsolved, his story caught between whispers of organized crime and the shadow of an unidentified predator.
The passage of time has not erased these mysteries; it has merely amplified their silence. Though modern forensic work has provided names for some victims and clarified circumstances in others, the crucial element of accountability often remains out of reach. Until new breakthroughs can overcome the absence of answers, these stories will remain the darkest and most compelling puzzles in Snohomish County.
