Weapon Linked To Murder Confiscated In Russia

EVERETT

Snohomish County sheriff's detectives have tracked a gun - possibly used in the 1985 slaying of a Lake Roesiger woman - to Russia. They hope to conduct tests on it that may implicate an Everett man considered a suspect in the murder.

The gun was stolen in a residential burglary before the murder of Tira Snyder, 19, who was found shot to death in her home. It is the same caliber as the weapon that killed Snyder, although ballistics tests must be performed to determine whether it is the murder weapon, said sheriff's spokesman Elliott Woodall.

A 31-year-old man convicted of a burglary that occurred about a mile from Snyder's home a month before her death was identified in December as a suspect in the murder, along with his 28-year-old cousin from Arlington.

The 31-year-old suspect is serving a seven-year prison sentence for burglary and other crimes at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe. The 28-year-old suspect is in jail in Alaska, fighting extradition to Snohomish County on warrants for burglary and other charges.

Woodall said the gun apparently passed among as many as five people locally before it was taken aboard a Russian ship. Detectives contacted U.S. Customs agents, who asked their counterparts in Bonn, Germany, to help track the weapon.

It was found in Moscow, and is now in the possession of Russian or German customs agents, Woodall said. The U.S. State Department has been asked to help return the gun to Snohomish County.

Detectives believe Snyder surprised burglars and was shot July 1, 1985. Her body, which was discovered by her husband, had multiple gunshot wounds. Her 6-month-old daughter was found unharmed in her car outside the house.