Skull, other remains identified as homeless teen
LAKE STEVENS, Wash. — The remains of a teen whose parents say left home to follow a boy have been identified, officials said.
On Jan. 3, a worker cleaning up a property here found a human skull and called 911. Investigators later found more bones, blood-stained bedding, a broken knife, women's clothing and paperwork belonging to a teenager whose family last talked to her in November, according to The (Everett, Wash.) Daily Herald.
Marysville, Wash., police had last listed Summer Francis Smith, 18, as homeless when she was found in May asleep in a couple's living room after they had left the garage door open. Smith's mother, Natalie Morrissey, said she last heard from her daughter in mid-November, and until last month when Smith's cellphone was disconnected, the mother's calls had been going to voicemail.
"I'm still within the shock of it all," Jesse Smith, Summer Smith's father, said Thursday.
On a Facebook page called The I Have a Name Project, Morrissey said her daughter was developmentally disabled with the mental capacity of a 10-year-old and mentally ill.
"Summer was a tortured but beautiful free spirit. Summer was an angel," Morrissey said. She would have been 19 on Feb. 9.
The Arizona-based project vows to restore dignity to the less fortunate with a focus on those who are homeless. It is helping raise money for the teenager's funeral expenses.
The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office searched more than 30 acres in this area about 30 miles northeast of Seattle as they investigated the case. Summer Smith's cause of death has not been released nor has anyone been charged in connection with her disappearance and death.
"I keep asking myself if there was something I missed or if there was something I could have done, wishing I could have had one more day," Jesse Smith said.