Vancouver police Major Crimes detectives late Tuesday were investigating the deaths of two men whose bodies were found several hours earlier in a home in the 12000 block of Northeast 40th Circle, in the Image neighborhood just east of and behind the SEH America plant.
At least one death is believed to be a homicide, but it wasn’t known whether the case could involve a double homicide or possibly a homicide-suicide, Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said Tuesday night.
Initial reports were that the men had been shot. However, Kapp said she couldn’t confirm the cause of the deaths until the medical examiner had made a determination.
Vancouver police and firefighters rushed to the home at 3:11 p.m. Officers soon told waiting firefighter-paramedics they wouldn’t be needed.
The dead men’s names weren’t released. They appeared to be in their mid-20s, Kapp said. It wasn’t initially known whether they lived there or what their relationship to each other might be, or to the man who came to the home, found them and called 911, she said.
As of late Tuesday night, police had reported no arrest. Detectives with the Major Crimes Team, including Detective Sgt. Scott Creager and Detective Wally Stefan, were at the scene with their evidence-collection van. Detectives also were conducting interviews, Kapp said.
The segment of Northeast 40th Circle where the deaths were being probed ends in a cul-de-sac. Officers taped off the area, which has newer two-story town homes with two-car garages, and is accessed from 122nd Avenue to the east.
Kapp said it wasn’t known whether the killings were random.
“I sure hope not,” said a neighbor. “It’s scary.”
Sara Crawford, 23, who lives next door to the home where the bodies were found, said she’d noticed “definitely a lot of people in and out” and who came and left in “nice cars.”
A couple of months ago, Crawford said, she saw an older red Buick in the home’s backyard, out of sight from the road. She thought it was suspicious and called 911. She never heard back from police, she said.
Crawford said she spoke with one occupant of the home a few times and suggested they combine resources to build a fence to separate their homes’ backyards.
The man suggested a friend of his might do the work, but Crawford said she wanted it done by someone who was licensed and bonded, so the plan fizzled.
“I definitely would not have thought a murder would have happened there,” said Kayla Germann, 20, who recently moved in with Crawford.
John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.
