Official insights from Public Health – Seattle & King County staff
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office is asking for the public’s help to identify a man found deceased in Lake Washington, just offshore from the Associated Students of the University of Washington Shell House (ASUW) building on July 4, 2026.
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Nearly 3,000 deaths are investigated by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office (KCMEO) every year. And for more than a decade, the Medical Examiner has partnered with the Health Care for the Homeless program to research and identify which of those people were presumed to be experiencing homelessness.
“We do this work to help the community both pay attention and remember. When people are remembered, they are treated with more dignity,” said John Gilvar, program manager for Health Care for the Homeless, which is part of Public Health—Seattle & King County.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office is hoping forensic sketches of people who have died will help lead to their identification. At any given time, there are about 40,000 unidentified remains in the United States – around 50 in King County. Washington’s only forensic anthropologist, Dr. Kathy Taylor, investigates these remains with help from law […]
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