AUSTIN DAVID KING - 16 yo -(2010) Morton (S of Tacoma) WA

Morton WA ---- It’s been one week since Morton resident Christy Harper
realized her 16-year-old son was missing.Austin David King had
been spending time with friends late June 24 when they decided to go
home, and he told Harper he was going to sleep, she said."He said
he was going to bed and that he would talk to me in the morning,"
Harper said. "He was laughing, in a good mood, joking with everybody."By
noon the following day — a time when family members say King would
normally emerge from the detached building next to the family’s mobile
home — his mother noticed he was missing and called 911, she said.
He hasn’t been seen since.

In the past week, Harper said she’s
embarked on a mission to bring King home, posting fliers from Auburn to
Yakima and everywhere in between. Harper’s enlisted the help of family
members, neighbors and complete strangers in trying to track him down.Between
40 and 50 people continued the search Tuesday, basing operations at the
end of Chapman Road along the Tilton River just outside Morton where
the boy lives in a mobile home with his mother and some of his siblings.
Wearing orange vests, teams spread out over a three-mile radius looking
for clues.Jennifer Mau, a volunteer with the Mount St. Helens
chapter of Guardians of the Children, led the effort from behind a white
markerboard, marking off the departure of teams and debriefing them
upon their return."We will cover as much ground as we need until
we can bring him home," Mau said.The services of two dogs were
donated by the International K9 Search and Rescue Services, based in
Longview. Mau said one of the dogs signaled it had found a track along
the bank of the Tilton River Tuesday. Family members say King wouldn’t
go to the river alone, but would often spend time there with others.Lewis
County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Commander Steve Aust said the
disappearance has been frustrating from an investigation standpoint.
Thus far, law enforcement have received no credible tips, he said."We’ve
ran into dead ends everywhere we’ve went," Aust said. "There’s no
evidence of foul play, but neither is there evidence that he’s a
runaway."Lewis County detectives were on the scene outside of
Morton Tuesday, and Aust said the sheriff’s office would continue
investigating.King is described by friends and family as a
home-schooled boy who would not venture out alone. They say he becomes
nervous in the dark and doesn’t like going anywhere by himself. Harper
said King would never consider running away, and that he would have at
least called his girlfriend or friends.Harper said King had
"traumatic experience" some years back that made him reluctant to go
anywhere alone.He has no cellular phone or debit card, and wasn’t
especially active on social networking sites like MySpace.com. His
profile hasn’t been updated since days before his disappearance.Maranda
Griffith, King’s 18-year-old sister, was taking part in the search
Tuesday afternoon, returning intermittently to comfort family and
friends and provide reports from her search near the river.She
said the terrain is difficult, but it helps ease anxiety to participate
in finding King."It does help," she said, "But I’m scared to find
him by myself. You have to try, though."Linda Walkup, a
volunteer helping coordinate the search, is a family friend of Amber
Dubois, a 14-year-old girl who disappeared on her way to Escondido High
School in California in 2008.She said the goal of the current
search is to rule out the obvious, and support one another as the effort
stretches in to its second week."Right now, there’s no starting
point and there’s no ending point, so it’s hard," she said. "You have to
have that."

VOLUNTEERS
WANTEDFamily members, friends and volunteers are asking for
additional help in locating 16-year-old Austin David King. Search
coordinator Jennifer Mau says anyone 18 or older is free to come to
command central at the end of Chapman Road off of state Route 508
outside Morton. Anyone under the age of 18 can participate with a note
from their guardian, though Mau said they will be given fliers to post
throughout the area. Those interested in helping can also call King’s
mother Christy Harper at 269-6861.

Zero leads. Failed searches. No luck. The family of a missing Morton
area teen is now hoping cash will provide answers. Austin King’s family
is offering $1,000 for information that gives them news on the
whereabouts of the 16-year-old. King disappeared a month ago this
Friday after going to his room outside his house. Tipsters should get in
touch with Crime Stoppers of Lewis County.

Searchers looking for missing teen Austin King have found a body
on a logging road near Morton, but the sheriff's office isn't
saying if the remains are of the missing boy.

King's family has planned a candlelight vigil for Friday night
to mark one month since his mysterious disappearance.

The text of the sheriff's office press release:
At approximately 2:00 p.m. on July 20^th the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
was notified a male body had been found near a logging road outside
of Morton. The body had been located by searchers
looking for Austin King who had been reported missing from his home
on June 23^rd. Currently detectives are
processing the scene and coordinating with the Lewis County
Coroner’s Office to remove the body. An identity has
not been established. Additional press releases will
follow as more information is developed.

Searchers say a psychic helped them find what they believe is the body of a missing teenager from Morton.
There's no positive identification yet, but the family seems certain it's the body of 16-year-old Austin King.
The last time his family saw King, he was heading off to bed. That was a month ago.
Acting
on a tip from a psychic on Wednesday, volunteer searchers headed up a
logging road and made the discovery of a badly decomposed body.
King's uncle, Terry Minor, made the discovery, and he believes the body is that of his missing nephew.
"He's
a good kid, and what happened to him should've never happened to him.
And whoever did this need to be brought to justice," Minor said. "It's
wrong."
Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield says dental records
are needed to make positive identification, but there are no other
missing people matching the description of the victim.
"We're
still working," said the sheriff. "We have a lot of leads to follow up
on. We're getting a lot of input from people out there right now. So
we're investigating this thing."
Once they make positive
identification, investigators will be looking for suspects as they
believe the victim's death was not accidental.
"It was
heartbreaking," said volunteer searcher Leslie Mathews. "We didn't get
to bring him home like we wanted, but we brought him home.
The
search for King started shortly after he disappeared. The group
Guardians of the Children joined in after seeing news coverage.
The search base was set up at a park near the family's home...
The
break in the case came when a psychic was called upon. She told the
off-road search crews to head up a certain logging road and at a certain
distance, his body would be found.
"She was right on," said
Jennifer Mau of Guardians of the Children. "I always offer to the
family, and I respect their wishes. If they don't want that, then I do
not do that."
But Mau said King's family did grant her permission to lend the help of a psychic.
Now family members are determined to figure out what happened, who did it and why.
A
vigil in King's honor has been set for Friday. It was to have been
called "Bring Austin Home." But following the discovery of the body, the
name has been changed to "In Memory of Austin."

The body found Tuesday afternoon off a logging road east of Morton
has been sent to the King County Medical Examiner's Office for further
testing, according to the Lewis County Sheriff's Office. DNA
testing will have to be done to determine the body’s identity, according
to a news release. The process is expected to take at least a week.The
body was found about 10 miles from the Chapman Road trailer where
Austin David King, 16, disappeared after telling family members he was
going to bed early June 23.Family members and searchers have said
they are all but certain the body is King’s. Searchers with a local
branch of Texas-based Guardians of the Children found the body nearly a
month after his disappearance.
Jennifer Mau, who was coordinating the search, said searchers focused
on the area after receiving a tip from a Portland-area psychic.
Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/07/24/1275345/dna-tests-next-for-body-found.html#ixzz0vPM58I3y

- A badly decomposed body found last month along a Lewis County logging
road has been positively identified as 16-year-old Austin King of
Morton, who has been missing since late June.

The body was
identified by DNA tests conducted at the Washington State Patrol Crime
Lab. A cause of death has still not been determined, said Cmdr. Steve
Aust of the Lewis County Sheriff's Office.

The body was
discovered July 20 by searchers acting on a tip from a psychic, who told
them to head up a certain logging road for a certain distance and look
there.

The death has been labeled "suspicious" by the Lewis County Sheriff's Office.

Austin
was last seen on June 23 when he said goodnight to some of his friends,
then went to bed inside the small cabin behind the family's trailer
home in the small town of Morton.

His family said earlier that it was completely out of character for Austin to leave without telling anyone.

"He's
always told me where he's at, where he's going to go," his mother,
Christy Harper, said at the time of his disappearance. "He doesn't ever
go in the dark by himself, doesn't ever go to the river by himself;
always has somebody with him."

King's uncle, Terry Minor, is the one who discovered the teen's body, and he has always believed it was his missing nephew.

"He's
a good kid, and what happened to him should've never happened to him.
And whoever did this need to be brought to justice," Minor said. "It's
wrong."

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detectives are still working several leads into the case, Aust said.

The teenager who was found dead along a logging county road in Lewis County in July died of homicidal violence, Lewis County Coroner's Office said on Friday.

The cause of Austin King's death has not been determined, and the investigation is ongoing.

King's badly decomposed body was found a month after he disappeared. The body was identified by DNA tests conducted at the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.

The body was discovered July 20 by searchers acting on a tip from a psychic, who told them to head up a certain logging road for a certain distance and look there.

The death had been labeled "suspicious" by the Lewis County Sheriff's Office.

Austin was last seen on June 23 when he said goodnight to some of his friends, then went to bed inside the small cabin behind the family's trailer home in the small town of Morton.

His family said earlier that it was completely out of character for King to leave without telling anyone.

"He's always told me where he's at, where he's going to go," his mother, Christy Harper, said at the time of his disappearance. "He doesn't ever go in the dark by himself, doesn't ever go to the river by himself; always has somebody with him."

King's uncle, Terry Minor, is the one who discovered the teen's body, and he has always believed it was his missing nephew.

"He's a good kid, and what happened to him should've never happened to him. And whoever did this need to be brought to justice," Minor said. "It's wrong."

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 20-year-old Renton man Tuesday in connection with the June disappearance and murder of 16-year-old Morton resident Austin David Jon King.
Jack A. Silverthorne was taken into custody without incident about 2:55 p.m. at his Renton residence and booked into the Lewis County Jail for suspected first-degree murder.The sheriff’s office said Silverthorne was living with his grandmother in the same Morton trailer park that King lived in when his family reported him missing June 23.King’s body was found a month later, July 20, near a logging road east of Morton, about 10 miles from the Chapman Road trailer where the boy lived with his mother and siblings.Sheriff Steve Mansfield said the murder’s lengthy investigation was frustrating at times but necessary for turning up critical evidence.“We’ve had to be very patient while waiting for the DNA results from the state crime lab,” Mansfield said. “We wanted to make sure we had the evidence secured and a solid case prior to moving forward, making an arrest and handing it off to the prosecutor’s office.”The Lewis County Coroner’s Office confirmed in early October King’s death was a homicide.Commander Steve Aust said the sheriff’s office is reluctant to call Silverthorne’s connection to King’s murder a “love triangle,” but the man and boy both reportedly had a relationship with a woman in her early twenties who also lived in the trailer park.“There was a relationship that linked the three people,” Aust said.One of King’s grandmothers, Bonnie Shields, who also lived in the trailer park, said this morning she was unaware of how Silverthorne was connected to her grandson’s murder.“I couldn’t even tell you what the guy looks like,” Shields said of Silverthorne.Aust said Silverthorne was a person of interest early on in the investigation of King’s murder, but wouldn’t speculate on what occurred the night King disappeared after going to bed alone in a small building near his family’s trailer.“We don’t know all the details that led up to it,” Aust said. “Realistically, Silverthorne is the one that knows what happened that night.”Silverthorne is scheduled to make his first appearance 4 p.m. today in Lewis County Superior Court to face charges for first-degree murder.

Austin David Jon King of Morton fathered a child before he was murdered at the age of 16 last summer.King allegedly had a baby with 23-year-old Sara Davis, whose birthday was celebrated in a trailer park off Chapman Road the night before King was reported missing June 23.The Lewis County Sheriff's Office and prosecuting attorney's office both confirmed King was a minor when he impregnated Davis."There is a problem there," Commander Steve Aust of the sheriff's office said.King's alleged killer, Jack Arnold Silverthorne, 20, was courting Davis at the time of King's disappearance and reportedly told people he'd "like to beat the child's father," according to court charging documents.While a 22-year-old Centralia man, Mario D. Kinne, was recently charged with having sex with a minor who gave birth to his baby, it is unclear if Davis will be charged for the same offense with King."At this point we're not looking at any criminal prosecution, but we're not ruling it out," Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said, noting law enforcement and prosecution offices have been deluged with homicides this year.During the nearly four months it took to make an arrest in King's death, Meagher said Davis' alleged sex offense was recognized but "tangential" during the investigation.If a charge is brought against Davis, Meagher said, that will likely be up to incoming Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer, who defeated incumbent Michael Golden in the general election for the leadership position in the prosecuting attorney's office."One thing at a time," Meagher said.

Renton Man Pleads Guilty to Morton Teen’s Death



First-Degree Manslaughter: Austin King of Morton Apparently Died of a Punch to the Head



A 20-year-old Renton man pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree manslaughter for the June 23, 2010 death of 16-year-old Austin David Jon King of Morton.
Jack A. Silverthorne was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison — the high end of manslaughter sentencing for a defendant with no criminal history — by Judge James Lawler in Lewis County Superior Court.

http://www.chronline.com/news/article_83bbe348-787b-11e0-8c48-001cc4c002e0.html