Maple Valley Teen Falls To Death From 10Th Floor Of Bellevue Hotel

BELLEVUE

A 17-year-old Maple Valley youth died yesterday after jumping or falling from a 10th-floor window of a Bellevue hotel.

Blair Barnes died at 2 p.m. at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Bellevue police said Barnes' death appeared to be a suicide. There were no indications of foul play.

According to police, a janitor at the Doubletree Hotel, on 112th Avenue Southeast, noticed a broken window in the hallway of the 10th floor at 11 a.m. Looking out, he saw Barnes on the roof of a truck-service area several stories below.

Barnes was not a current guest nor an employee of the hotel.

It wasn't clear how long he'd had gone undetected; investigators were looking for indications of what might have caused the fall.

The 10th-floor window, which has a waist-high guardrail, was broken with a rock apparently taken from the hotel grounds, said police Capt. Todd Simonton.

A backpack was placed next to the broken window, which did not suggest a struggle, police said. No note, drugs or alcohol were found.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office is performing an autopsy today.

Barnes was a senior at Tahoma High School. A Tahoma School District spokesman said that grief counselors would be on hand when students return tomorrow.