King County Medical Examiner’s Office still working to identify human remains found near Kent

Published 2:59 pm Monday, March 21, 2011

The identities and manner of death of the three sets of human remains found March 10 at a nursery near Kent remained under investigation Monday by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“We’re still working to identify them,” said a Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman in a phone interview Monday. “It’s a pending investigation. It can vary on how easy it is to get records. Hopefully, we will have something soon.”

The King County Sheriff’s Office is treating the case as a homicide investigation, said Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

Human remains were found March 10 at a nursery in the 26200 block of 65th Avenue South, just west of the West Valley Highway. Employees from the nursery discovered the remains.

Detectives are aware of the case involving three missing Pierce County men who were last seen in December in Kent. Part of the ongoing investigation will include determining if the remains are the three missing men.

The three, Jesus Bejar Avila, 25, of Lakewood; Yazmany Quezada Ortiz, 25, of Tacoma, and Christian Alberto Rangel, 19, of University Place, were last seen leaving work Dec. 12 at Lake Union Wholesale Florist, in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.

Lakewood Police have been looking for the three Pierce County men who disappeared after they were last seen Dec. 12 at a Kent apartment complex. The men’s families have not heard from them since they left for work Dec. 12. Relatives reported the men missing Dec. 13.

The men carpooled to their jobs at the Lake Union Wholesale Florist shop and left work at about 3:15 p.m. Dec. 12.

Police found the 2007 Chevrolet Silverado quad cab the men commuted in that day abandoned Dec. 14 at a Kent apartment complex in the 6200 block of James Street. The men were seen briefly at the complex.

It is out of the ordinary for the men to not have contact with their families and their disappearance is suspicious, according to Lakewood Police.