Found Deceased WA - Jeffrey Klungness, 14, Sumner, 2 Mar 1996 *remains found 2017 - id'd 2021* * homicide - suspect dead*

[iulia]

Pierce Co. investigators close missing boy cold case 29 years later

After 29 years, the Klungness family now has answers — but the justice they sought will remain out of reach.

www.fox13seattle.com

[…]
In 2017, mushroom pickers in the Greenwater area of unincorporated Pierce County discovered a skull fragment.

Forensic analysis confirmed it belonged to a juvenile male with signs of blunt force trauma. The FBI extracted DNA, and in 2020, a match was made to Jeffrey Klungness using his half-sister’s mitochondrial DNA. A further search in 2020 uncovered additional remains and clothing in the same area.

 

[BethAnn777]

Oh, how sad. Glad to see he has finally been identified.

 

[DS2021]

The wayback machine shows the same type of error going back years, but im thinking it may be an error in how the site was archived

So it sounds like they pulled his ncmec when he was identified in 2021. Idk why they waited years to remove him from namus

Have you seen this child?

Missing From: , . Missing Date: .

web.archive.org

 

[summergirl1]

I'm not sure why it's taken this long to release this info when the suspect has been dead for two and a half years (you'd think they would have known that), and thus there was no reason to not release info because of that. But it says some aspects of the investigation are still being finalized, even after this, so who knows. It's definitely a very sad story..

 

[Aurora90]

Unfortunately, by the time the DNA was confirmed to be Jeffrey's, it was too late for closure for the family.

"It was COVID, and Mr. Klungness had been admitted to the hospital, and he died the same night we learned that it was Jeffrey. We were unable to tell him. The hospital wouldn’t let us go in," said Anderson.

That part breaks my heat.

 

[Quilty]

So it sounds like they pulled his ncmec when he was identified in 2021. Idk why they waited years to remove him from namus

Have you seen this child?

Missing From: , . Missing Date: .

web.archive.org

I have seen at least one case remain on Namus when they only found partial remains. In the notes, they specified this was the case, though.

 

[dotr]

Mar 12, 2025
The case can never be formally prosecuted because the person believed to have played a key role in his disappearance died in 2022.

 

[lightofmine99]

In 2017, mushroom pickers in the Greenwater area of unincorporated Pierce County discovered a skull fragment.

From article: "It was COVID, and Mr. Klungness had been admitted to the hospital, and he died the same night we learned that it was Jeffrey. We were unable to tell him. The hospital wouldn’t let us go in," said Anderson."

Literally what are the odds of this?!

 

[imstilla.grandma]