WA WA - Patrick Cress, 13, murdered, Kingsgate, 30 April 1983

[djtopcat]

The case has been put in the cue for a future Dateline NBC story.

There's so many quirky and bizarre elements to this case it's maddening
1.Relative silence from the Sasville family (last place he was known to be for the sleepover)
2. The class note evidence publicly released in 2008. Now considered irrelevant despite the writer's father being a cop in the same department at the time!
3.Found dead with a relatively new portable radio the family confirms was not his.
4.The head scratching discovery of one of the missing flyers with his supposed good friend's class pic stapled to it.
5.Seen by his special ed teacher walking several blocks past where he was found an hour after he last called his house, but still in an entirely different direction than he would have taken to meet his parents.
6. His friend telling other friends at a local popular skating rink that Pat was "hiding out" "I'm bringing him food" on the same Saturday night he went missing. Yet according to the book this friend and his mother made a statement to the police that they saw Pat at Skate King Saturday night!
If Pat was really hiding out somewhere assumedly in fear, why would he take a chance of being seen at the most visible public venue in town? That and Pat literally lived a few blocks from the Skate King. If he blew off his parents meet up, he had to know he could easily get caught there. It makes NO SENSE!

 

[djtopcat]

There will be a brand new Washington's Most Wanted tv episode about this case on Feb 21st on local Q13 Fox news in Seattle. There should be a link to view it after it airs online hopefully by the next day.

 

[SAMS]

How long had he and his family been living here? Why did they move to this area? MOO

 

[djtopcat]

How long had he and his family been living here? Why did they move to this area? MOO

Which family?

 

[Hathor16]

How long had he and his family been living here? Why did they move to this area? MOO

I believe the cress family lived in the area for less than a year. Moved to the area because there father got a new job. I think he was an engineer

 

[Hathor16]

Let's us know when the Dateline airs. I had always thought Pat may have seen a car similar to his dad's. Thanks for your posts, they've cleared up a few things I found out of sorts.

 

[PIFrankie]

In his book, Dick Cress discussed the possibility of a drug dealer putting out a hit on a a kid mistaken for Pat, this doesn't seem too farfetched.

Also from reading, I got the impression that the investigators were doing their best not to investigate, you have to wonder if their is police corruption present. Kid that resembles Pat attempts to disrupt drug dealer selling to kids, it seemed like this drug dealer was well known in the immediate area and perhaps "allowed"to do business if he kick up to law enforcement. Concerning the note passed from Kim Reynolds to Michelle. (Kim's father is Howard Reynolds,(KC Sheriff). All speculation, but it may be why this case among dozens others remain cold...

This is a really sad and depressing case to help with. Some things have to come to light recently which have made me re-think about everything I have read and been told up to this point. Especially coming out of the father's book written a decade after this happened. Many people read this book and just assume it's 100% factual and I can prove many things written in this book either were impossible or grossly inaccurate.
A witness who lived in the same complex at the time remembers being told by a Cress family member Pat and his dad had a massive argument on the day he went missing. They said something about Pat was so angry he kicked over some garbage cans and stormed off.
I now believe there is a good chance Pat did indeed run off or possibly something else happened I'm afraid.
A neighbor witness who was with Pat and this Kevin Sasville kid that morning has also stated emphatically that what is said in the video and book is not what they recall hearing that Saturday morning. The witness alleges that Pat called home to ask to spend another night (this is in the book) and his dad got on the phone and yelled at him. Pat said something to the effect of "but I thought you said it was okay?" He does not recall anything about an agreed pickup at the grocery store about a mile away. He recalls Kevin helping give directions direct to the house. 20-25 minutes later they're upstairs waiting on his ride and Pat sees something out the window down the block and says "that's my dad's car" and ran out the front door. Presumably heading to whatever car parked at the end of the block. This neighbor witness did not see Pat get into the car. He stated that about 45 minutes later Pat's dad called and asked where his son was? He said Kevin said something like "Didn't you just pick him up?" For the record these guys thought Pat had run away from home. The other bizarre thing is this neighbor says Kevin told Pat "you might want to avoid my brother" Kevin's brother Brian was 20 and a partier, he may or may not have a military service alibi for that weekend. The police are looking into it.
This neighbor witness was 12 at the time and still in elementary school, he said he would often go over to Kevin's (shared backyard) and play pool or swing on their cool rope swing. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time that Saturday morning. He said he clearly remembers Pat being upset over how the phone call home went. He said he was questioned and took a volunteer polygraph about 14 years ago and they never followed up so he assumed the case was solved by now. He came to us too to tell his story. Nothing was prompted. I did not find him to be deceptive, I believe at least some of what he recalls is probably true. The rest can be sorted by Detective Mellis since I believe he did the interview originally. It is curious that the make and model of the car supposedly seen by Kevin that the police digitally added in the new video is the backend of a 1973 Plymouth Satellite. Dick Cress drove a 73 Plymouth Satellite Sebring. Just a coincidence? Thoughts?

I just heard one of the very key possible witnesses in this case is a resident at Life Care Center in Kirkland WA which is ground zero for one of the major Coronavirus outbreaks in the US (19 connected deaths) He's a paraplegic in his mid 50's so hopefully he will not be a casualty. Still very weird, of all the places this guy could be maybe this case is just cursed.....
Coronavirus death toll reaches 22 statewide after three more Life Care residents die

 

[PIFrankie]

Do you have the name of the witness at lifecare? Since I grew up and attended school about the same time Also lived on 113th ave ne. Not far from where Pat was found. I knew Kevin Sassville, but stopped hangout prior to jr. high. I knew of most other kids in neighborhood as well.

This case has always bothered me, living so close and friends or knowing of the same people Pat hung out with.

In his book, Dick Cress discussed the possibility of a drug dealer putting out a hit on a a kid mistaken for Pat, this doesn't seem too farfetched.

Also from reading, I got the impression that the investigators were doing their best not to investigate, you have to wonder if their is police corruption present. Kid that resembles Pat attempts to disrupt drug dealer selling to kids, it seemed like this drug dealer was well known in the immediate area and perhaps "allowed"to do business if he kick up to law enforcement. Concerning the note passed from Kim Reynolds to Michelle. (Kim's father is Howard Reynolds,(KC Sheriff). All speculation, but it may be why this case among dozens others remain cold...

I just heard one of the very key possible witnesses in this case is a resident at Life Care Center in Kirkland WA which is ground zero for one of the major Coronavirus outbreaks in the US (19 connected deaths) He's a paraplegic in his mid 50's so hopefully he will not be a casualty. Still very weird, of all the places this guy could be maybe this case is just cursed.....
Coronavirus death toll reaches 22 statewide after three more Life Care residents die

 

[Hathor16]

I really don't see this as a professional, planned hit. Looks like something snapped, got carried away. People discuss the possibility of Patrick at parties, has anyone ever come forward to say they partied with pat?

 

[PIFrankie]

I believe Pat witnessed something he wasn't supposed to see. He was threatened to keep quiet. <modsnip>

I don't buy the claim, the note in question has nothing to do with the case. It's very significant.

<modsnip>

This case is due to be solved... soon!

 

[PIFrankie]

The U.S. government does not regularly collect data on police misconduct. One attempt to track misconduct is the Cato Institute's National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, which estimates misconduct rates using newspaper reports.[110] The project's data suggest that police are more likely than the average person to commit a number of crimes including assault, sexual assault, and murder, but less likely to commit robbery.

 

[Rolotamasi]

The individual(s) that committed this horrible crime will pay. Their day of reckoning is coming soon.

Those who are aware of said individual(s) are implored to step up and do the right thing.

<modsnip>


Step up! It's in your best interest!

 

[ase499]

Any new info regarding this case? This story has been haunting me since I became aware of it back in 2007. I lived in Kingsgate back in ‘82-‘83 when I was in grades school.

 

[djtopcat]

I believe Pat witnessed something he wasn't supposed to see. He was threatened to keep quiet. <modsnip>

I don't buy the claim, the note in question has nothing to do with the case. It's very significant.

<modsnip>

This case is due to be solved... soon!

The answer lies with his father Dick Cress. The truth will be revealed someday.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“People who grew up in this area in the ’80s and '90s knows the Pat Cress case,” Mellis said. “You didn't read every day about a murder on the east side back then, and you certainly didn’t read about a murder about a kid not too much younger than me in our neighborhood.”

What’s known is back on April 30, 1983, Patrick was last seen walking down the road near 110th Place NE and NE 140th Street from a friend's house in Kirkland to meet his parents, who were supposed to pick him up at the nearby Safeway, but he never showed up.

“Forty years ago this week, this would’ve been the very week 40 years ago that rumors were going around,” Mellis said, “Those rumors were pretty clear – Pat’s dead, Pat’s in water, and Pat had his head injured, and it caused his death.”

Those rumors turned out to be true. Patrick’s body was found in a retention pond near where the Juanita Brook Apartments now sit, and he had a head injury.

Where Patrick disappeared and where he was found are less than a mile apart. Detectives believe his final moments may have happened in that same area as well.

“Pat’s mother didn’t survive long enough to see this case go anywhere,” Mellis said.

Detectives seek tips on 40-year old cold case murder of 13-year old boy

This month marks 40 years since 13-year-old Patrick Cress disappeared and was later found dead less than a mile from where he was last seen.

komonews.com

 

[HarryBeanbag]

So it's been 40 years now this week.
Is anybody continuing to look into this?
I'm new to websleuths, but I went to school with Pat at Kamiakin Jr. High.
I went to Elementary School at Helen Keller and ran through them same trails in Edith Molton Park and frequented the gravel road and retention pond area where he was found.
I can offer detailed information of the entire area and explain what it was like growing up during the early 80's and give my two cents regarding the rumors and my whole experience during the time he went missing and how us kids felt at the time.
I'd like to chat with others from the area who lived through this.
I'm not so inclined to think the father had anything to do with this.
It's been 40 years, there is no reason to be afraid to come forward at this time. Hopefully someone does soon so his dad and siblings can stop wondering and find some answers.

 

[HarryBeanbag]

The case has been put in the cue for a future Dateline NBC story.

There's so many quirky and bizarre elements to this case it's maddening
1.Relative silence from the Sasville family (last place he was known to be for the sleepover)
2. The class note evidence publicly released in 2008. Now considered irrelevant despite the writer's father being a cop in the same department at the time!
3.Found dead with a relatively new portable radio the family confirms was not his.
4.The head scratching discovery of one of the missing flyers with his supposed good friend's class pic stapled to it.
5.Seen by his special ed teacher walking several blocks past where he was found an hour after he last called his house, but still in an entirely different direction than he would have taken to meet his parents.
6. His friend telling other friends at a local popular skating rink that Pat was "hiding out" "I'm bringing him food" on the same Saturday night he went missing. Yet according to the book this friend and his mother made a statement to the police that they saw Pat at Skate King Saturday night!
If Pat was really hiding out somewhere assumedly in fear, why would he take a chance of being seen at the most visible public venue in town? That and Pat literally lived a few blocks from the Skate King. If he blew off his parents meet up, he had to know he could easily get caught there. It makes NO SENSE!

I don't see where they ever did a "Dateline NBC" Story. I definitely think this case is intriguing enough to warrant one, also "Unsolved Mysteries" or ABC 20/20. I wonder why Pat's Story never got the publicity it deserved. Dick Cress had nothing to do with this, Kids lash out at their parents all the time, crash at a friends for a couple of nights before going back home and 12 & 13 yr. olds embelish stories all the time.
I too think the most questionable action involved is the silence from the family where the boys spent the night. The mother and daughter who says they dropped Pat and his friend off within a block of the same house they spent the night before. The same family who they warned Patrick to steer clear of the older brother. I think these facts are where they're going to solve this case. They need to locate this family and thoroughly vet them to see what really happened during those two nights.