SPOKANE — Skull fragments found in the Spokane River have been identified as belonging to Bret Robert Snow, a 32-year-old Spokane Valley man who was murdered in 2015, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Monday.
Snow’s killing happened in a workshop building outside Newman Lake, but the murder weapon was never found. Until recently, none of Snow’s remains had been located. Authorities believe the slaying was drug-related, and that Snow may have been beaten to death and dismembered to hide evidence of the killing.
In September 2018, a man fly fishing in the Spokane River found a small skull fragment, but DNA analysis could not be completed at the time due to a lack of resources, according to the sheriff’s office. In August 2020, another skull fragment was found in a different area of the river. Both fragments had been kept in storage.
In 2022, resources became available to examine the skull fragments. Using American Rescue Plan Act funds, the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office sent both fragments to Texas-based Othram Inc., a company that specializes in extracting DNA from small or degraded samples, according to the sheriff’s office. Othram confirmed the fragments belonged to the same person, and law enforcement uploaded the DNA profile to various genealogy databases, identifying dozens of relatives and confirming the remains belonged to Snow.
