KIRKLAND, Wash. — The Kirkland Police Department has launched a new Cold Case webpage to highlight unsolved cases that remain under investigation.
According to Kirkland PD, the page will serve as a central location where the community can learn about ongoing cold cases, share information with detectives, and help bring long-awaited closure to victims and their families.
This October, the page is featuring the 2006 homicide of 23-year-old John Austin Schuoler.
On September 15, 2006, John’s roommate found him dead in his bedroom. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma, ruling it a homicide. Despite an “exhaustive investigation,” a suspect was not charged, and the investigation went cold.
At the time of his death, John was living at the Sunset Shores apartment complex in Kirkland and worked at a local restaurant.
On the evening of Thursday, September 14, 2006, police say John was enjoying a rare day off from work. He had lunch with a friend, shopped in Bellevue, and left a voicemail for his mom. This would be the last time she would ever hear her son’s voice.
Police believe John returned to his apartment sometime around 7 p.m. John visited with friends and his roommate in the apartment and talked to others on his computer and cell phone until around 10 p.m. The following evening, on September 15, John was found by his roommate when his roommate returned home from work.
Investigators found no evidence of forced entry into the apartment. Missing from John’s room was a hunter green “army style” canvas backpack. Investigators suspect John’s killer is somebody who was known to him, and not a random act of violence.
In 2012, John’s mother passed away without ever knowing the identity of her son’s killer. Police say that at the time of her death, she remained convinced that those with information about John’s murder would eventually come forward to work with the Kirkland Police Department to solve the case.
She was laid to rest beside John, her only child. Her tombstone reads, “You live always within those you loved, and who loved you so deeply-your heart knows no bounds.”
By bringing attention to John’s case, the Kirkland Police Department hopes the community will help bring closure and justice for John, his mom, and the rest of his surviving family.
For more details about this case, click here.
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