WA - Unidentified Male: "Lyle Stevik", Grays Harbor, 17 Sept 2001 - #4

[rosesfromangels]

Eye color different.
such a beautiful but tragic looking young man

 

[astridxx]

Eye color different.
such a beautiful but tragic looking young man

Very true. I did just a little teeny tiny bit of research, and IDK how much we can trust yahoo answers, BUT,

"There isn't a change in the iris color, but the cornea clouds and becomes a semi-transparent milky layer which can obscure the iris color below. When a person is alive, the cornea remains transparent by cells transporting water out.
This is what gives the eyes a bluish look sometimes in the dead.
But no, blue eyes won't turn brown. "

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080731124541AAM3Quv

But then later on someone was like "oh, well, they just get murky, brown doesn't change much." But Lyle's eyes look uncannily green... like almost photoshopped green.

The other thing that bothers me about this match is that Lyle's eyebrows seem to have a little more flesh in between the brown and the eyelid. Norman's brows hang lower, more toward the eyed.

 

[carbuff]

Hazel to brown is not a big jump, and is often in the eye of the beholder.

And just as a general principle, you can't really rule someone in or out based on photos, especially only one that would be of a much much younger man. Differences in pose, lighting, camera angles, filters, etc. can make faces look much different.

I've always thought Lyle looked older than the estimates, but maybe that's because even in death you can see how much pain he had inside. Poor man.

Suicide note: he could have changed his mind at the last minute but not gone home, or maybe he was found before he died and was hospitalized for a time, and never went home. I can picture him having been in and out of mental hospitals for years, doing okay in between.

 

[astridxx]

Eh, I've sent it off to the contact listed on NAMUS for Lyle. It's worth a look I suppose.

 

[astridxx]

BTW what is up with Lyle's PM pic on NAMUS?!!?! It's CREEPY!!!!!!! They like, played with the light and so half of his face is in the shadows and like one eye is glowing... ugh *shudder*

 

[outofthedark]

BTW what is up with Lyle's PM pic on NAMUS?!!?! It's CREEPY!!!!!!! They like, played with the light and so half of his face is in the shadows and like one eye is glowing... ugh *shudder*

It looks like a bad quality photo that somebody photographed from their computer screen with an old camera.

 

[MSforsyte]

Do we have a rule out list? One that is Done by us but by the LE/coroners office.
There is only one ruleout on NamUs and that Was just recently added. How come there arent anymore?

 

[MSforsyte]

Not Done by us, IT should say....

 

[Grammar]

I don't see much similarity between Kyle and Norman. Kyle has a very square chin with a definite cleft while Norman's chin is much more rounded and lacks the distinctive cleft. Norman's eyebrows are straight-ish while Kyle's have a very rounded arch. The noses are different also. Not saying it can't be, but not feeling it's likely.

Has anyone considered that Kyle's name was an anagram of his actual name? It could also have been names of people he was close to or even people he was angry at or afraid of or...

I wonder if he had been very sick, causing the weight loss?

I hope his identity is discovered soon and that he now has the peace he lacked in life.

 

[carbuff]

This is how different eyeballs on photos can be. I thought Lyle has a noticeable cleft.

 

[Vabrownid1]

Peoples facial features change over time, especially the nose, imo. It seems to be more bony with age, which is the difference I see in these two pictures. The eyelids are hard to tell, especially with Lyle being in a laying position in the pm pictures. I really like this match!

 

[Snoopster]

No doubt this is way in left field, but what if "lyle" used a different version of the family name? When I did some ancestry work for my family, one thing that jumped out at me was that some people modified their family name slightly. I had some ancestors who spelled their surname as Noseworthy and others who spelled it as Nosworthy.

What if we looked at the more common spelling of Stevik...."Stevick"?

If you plug that spelling into google image search you will find a teacher in Olympia Washington (where Lyle was found) who looks amazingly like Lyle. He is clearly younger, but perhaps related?

 

[Snoopster]

On a similar note, there is also a "Stevick" who is involved in environmental activism. I had focused on this line of thinking due to the "Brett Stone" case, where another man was found (only a week or two before Lyle's death) in Ontario Canada, near a town that is known for it's nuclear facility. Is there a possible link to environmental terrorism?

Did Lyle kill himself due to the death of his colleague/companion in Ontario or due to the incredible emotional overhang of the terror in New York on 9/11?

(Apologies yet again to others who wish I would stop putting this possible link forward.)

 

[EmiLove832]

Just a few days ago, Reza Farahan from the Bravo tv show Shahs of Sunset posted a throwback photo of himself on Instagram. He and "Lyle" look very similar. Reza looks quite different now but it made me wonder if Lyle could've be Persian?

I'm not sure if I can link the photo here but it's worth looking at.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[outofthedark]

I just decided to Google "Port Angeles", (where the first possible bus came from, and the one that he might have taken) and found that there is a ferry route between Port Angeles and Victoria, BC. The route takes about 90 minutes via ferry. There used to be two routes between both PA and Victoria, one that was from May - September and took just 60 minutes on the passenger only Victoria Xpress. This is no longer being provided.

The second (and still ongoing) route is a traditional passenger/vehicle ferry that takes 90 minutes.

Another note of interest is that since 2009, passengers are NOW required to present passports at the border. He would have been able to easily get across the border.

http://www.ferrytravel.com/ferryfacts.htm

I also did some extra math along the way. He showed up at 4:30 PM, and according to Google maps, it takes 3:00:07 to get from PA to Amanda Park (apparently, the route runs 3 times a day from Monday to Friday). Using that math, the bus would have left around 1ish or sometime after that.

ETA: Ferry departure times: https://cohoferry.com/Schedule

 

[Ambercat]

I just decided to Google "Port Angeles", (where the first possible bus came from, and the one that he might have taken) and found that there is a ferry route between Port Angeles and Victoria, BC. The route takes about 90 minutes via ferry. There used to be two routes between both PA and Victoria, one that was from May - September and took just 60 minutes on the passenger only Victoria Xpress. This is no longer being provided.

The second (and still ongoing) route is a traditional passenger/vehicle ferry that takes 90 minutes.

Another note of interest is that since 2009, passengers are NOW required to present passports at the border. He would have been able to easily get across the border.

http://www.ferrytravel.com/ferryfacts.htm

I also did some extra math along the way. He showed up at 4:30 PM, and according to Google maps, it takes 3:00:07 to get from PA to Amanda Park (apparently, the route runs 3 times a day from Monday to Friday). Using that math, the bus would have left around 1ish or sometime after that.

ETA: Ferry departure times: https://cohoferry.com/Schedule

That's interesting about the ferry from Canada -- I wonder if the ferry schedule was effected by 9-11 and, if it was, when they started running normally again?

 

[rosesfromangels]

On a similar note, there is also a "Stevick" who is involved in environmental activism. I had focused on this line of thinking due to the "Brett Stone" case, where another man was found (only a week or two before Lyle's death) in Ontario Canada, near a town that is known for it's nuclear facility. Is there a possible link to environmental terrorism?

Did Lyle kill himself due to the death of his colleague/companion in Ontario or due to the incredible emotional overhang of the terror in New York on 9/11?

(Apologies yet again to others who wish I would stop putting this possible link forward.)

In my opinion, you should never apologize for reintroducing ideas that just keep niggling at you. I believe many a case has been advanced or solved by these persistent minds! : )

I keep going back to the coroners suggestion that "Lyle" had recently lost a lot of weight; 30-40lbs, and that he was quite underweight. To me this suggests deep depression or terminal illness. The scar on his abdomen suggests the theory of illness might be the frontrunner.

On a related note, I was scanning through the Doe Network on "missing persons", and then identified persons. I found it quite notable, that in many of the "identified persons" who had been unidentified for many, many years....that there was a consistent theme. *They had never been reported missing, or not for several years after their disappearance*. I found that quite remarkable!

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Has anyone thought to contact Forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick? She traces DNA back through ancestry to discover one's roots. She would be a big help in determining where Lyle or his family originated.

 

[Snoopster]

In my opinion, you should never apologize for reintroducing ideas that just keep niggling at you. I believe many a case has been advanced or solved by these persistent minds! : )

I keep going back to the coroners suggestion that "Lyle" had recently lost a lot of weight; 30-40lbs, and that he was quite underweight. To me this suggests deep depression or terminal illness. The scar on his abdomen suggests the theory of illness might be the frontrunner.

On a related note, I was scanning through the Doe Network on "missing persons", and then identified persons. I found it quite notable, that in many of the "identified persons" who had been unidentified for many, many years....that there was a consistent theme. *They had never been reported missing, or not for several years after their disappearance*. I found that quite remarkable!

I'm glad you brought up the scar. Up until now I had only thought of it as an external identifier. They did an autopsy didn't they? If so, they would know if the scar was from an attack or accident (e.g. stab or puncture wound) or whether it was from an operation. If it was from an operation then I presume they know what type of operation (i.e. what organs were involved). This additional background information would be helpful.

Regarding so many not reported missing....I think there are so many people who lose contact with their family over the years, particularly if there are mental health or addiction issues. We lost contact with my brother when he was a young adult. He didn't get along with my father at the time and my mother was deceased. He simply stopped communicating with the rest of the family. Yes, my father did ultimately get the police involved, but it wasn't as if my brother had previously called regularly and suddenly stopped calling. I can see how it could happen depending on family dynamics. I also think it was more common back in the days when cell phones weren't as common and social media didn't exist.

 

[bluecanary]

Hey all,

Still relatively new to this site - I've posted a few times in the past, but have mostly just read through threads on unsolved missing and unidentified persons that have always, always niggled at me. Lyle's is one of those cases.

My thoughts:

• The scar on Lyle's abdomen was due to an appendectomy, not any kind of injury. I presume that the scar had long since healed - the ME would have been able to tell if it were recent, and he made no mention of that. There were also no signs of existing illness, ruling that out as a motivator for suicide.
• I don't believe Lyle Stevik was the victim's real name. The fact that he had no ID and chose the name of a fictional character from a book, as well as listing a hotel as his residential address, indicates to me that he went out of his way to make sure he wouldn't be identified.
• I get the feeling that Lyle was estranged from his family for some reason. He was well-groomed and educated, so he obviously wasn't neglected as a child. I'm thinking that the separation happened later in his adult life, perhaps due to some life choices he'd made that his family didn't agree with. One poster mentioned the possibility of his being gay. It's a leap, but perhaps he'd come out to his family and they didn't support him? That would certainly leave a person feeling isolated and depressed. I think it's likely that his family wrote him off months or years prior to when he was found, and haven't filed a missing person's report because they're not in current contact with him.
• Lyle didn't have the unkempt, untidy look of someone who has been living on the streets. He had decent clothing and good teeth, which means that up until he died, he wasn't financially strapped. He was getting money from somewhere, so he likely had a good job. He'd probably either quit or had been laid off/fired very recently. Without more information to go on, this by itself isn't helpful, but might be useful in comparing him to missing persons' cases.
• The address of the hotel in Meridian, ID seems too precise to just be a randomly chosen location to me. The investigator on the case mentioned that Lyle had arrived by bus, possibly bound from Aberdeen, WA. By mapping out the locations on Google, it looks entirely plausible to me that Lyle had stayed at the Best Western in Meridian a day or two prior to his arrival, then traveled north via bus along I-84 to I-5 to Aberdeen, then north to Amanda Park. Given that it's a secluded location, and considering the clothing Lyle was wearing (plaid shirt, hiking boots) that seems to fit with the fishing/hiking activities that the area is known for, I have to think that the area had some special personal meaning for Lyle - perhaps his family had vacationed there when he was a child, and he found it a comforting place to die. I get the feeling that he was a very good person - the fact that even to the end of his life, he thought of paying for his hotel room and obscuring his identity (perhaps to spare his family the grief of his passing) demonstrates this to me. It makes me all the more sad that to this day, his identity is still unknown, and he's buried in an unmarked grave.