King County ME's office trying to identify homeless woman who died of exposure

KIRKLAND, Wash. -- The King County Medical Examiner’s Office is seeking the public’s help to identify a woman who died in King County. 

The unidentified person, drawn in a sketch released by King County, was presumed to be homeless and found dead outdoors on January 12 in the 700 block of 1st Street, Kirkland.

Her cause of death is hypothermia due to environmental exposure. 

The woman is described as probable mixed-race, 30-60 years old, 5-foot, 5 inches tall and 149 pounds. She has an old cesarean section scar.

At the time of her death, she was wearing an unnamed medical facility bracelet bearing the name “DOE, JO” with an admit date of Jan. 10, 2019.

Anyone with information on the unidentified woman is asked to call the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Investigations Section, at 206-731-3232, ext. 5.

At any given time, there are about 40,000 unidentified remains in the United States, with 50 of those in King County, according to the King County Office of Public Health.

Washington state’s only forensic anthropologist, Dr. Kathy Taylor of the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, investigates these remains with help from law enforcement.

Sketches of additional unidentified individuals in King County are posted on the King County Medical Examiner’s Office unidentified remains web page. If you have information about any of these cases, you're asked to call the King County Medical Examiner’s Office at 206-731-3232, ext. 5.