Body found in Pendergast Park

Bremerton Police Chief Rob Forbes knows the identity of the man who was found dead pushed inside a large wooden chest on the side of a road near Pendergast Regional Park in Bremerton Tuesday night, but he will not release it.

“Our job is to get who is ever responsible hooked up for this,” he said.

“Sometimes when we release information it can compromise the investigation process.”

So far, the wife of the deceased man has been contacted at her home by police. She and her family live just outside the Bremerton city limits. The man was the father of two children, ages 8 and 11.

“There are some young children involved and they don’t know their daddy is dead,” said Eric Seymour, who found the body Tuesday night while walking his dogs.

After the story was first printed in newspapers and reported on television stations nationally, the deceased’s wife called Seymour, saying her husband had been missing for four days. Seymour has since kept contact with the woman and her mother. He has also received more than 27 calls a day from news agencies and police department officials.

He said the children know their father is missing. BPD officers showed up at the family’s door Wednesday. The mother wanted to tell them of their father’s death with the help of counselors.

Seymour first noticed the body in bushes 25 feet off Third Avenue west. The body was partially pushed inside a badly damaged chest.

An autopsy was conducted by the Kitsap County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday, May 7, but the agency is not releasing the name or residence of the man.

The county coroner assumes jurisdiction when a person dies under strange circumstances or unnatural means.

Crime Prevention Detective Wendy Davis is spearheading the investigation for the Bremerton Police Department, and said the death “is suspicious.” No suspect has been named at this time. She could not determine how long the body had been lying there. “It is kind of an inconspicuous area. You probably could do whatever you wanted there,” she said.

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