Bail set at $1 million for person accused of killing man whose remains were found by train tracks
After a grisly investigation, a Thurston County Superior Court judge set bail at $1 million for a 32-year-old Olympia man accused of murder in the second-degree.
Olympia Police arrested Kyle Gene Jarstad Thursday and he appeared in court Friday where bail was set. Prosecutors allege he killed Shaun P. Moore, 31, and disposed of Moore’s body in a trash bag.
Police located Moore’s remains on Sept. 15 alongside railroad tracks near the intersection of Plum Street Southeast and Union Avenue after two people reported a strong odor in the area.
Judge John Skinder found probable cause for the allegations and set bail at $1 million after the prosecution asked for $2 million. He barred Jarstad from contacting Moore’s family and five other people who may be witnesses or accomplices.
Coroner Gary Warnock released Moore’s name Monday, even though his office has been unable to locate next of kin. He believes Moore’s parents lost legal rights to him at some point in the past. Warnock hoped providing Moore’s name would help him locate any relatives.
“I apologize in advance to the family,” Warnock said. “The media is the only resource right now to find the family.”
Deputy prosecuting attorney Scott Jackson said Jarstad has a criminal history of four prior assaults and alleged he showed no remorse for his actions in this case.
“The defendant participated in beating this victim and left him to die,” Jackson said. “They kept the body in their apartment in a shower stall for two weeks. Ultimately, the victim appears to have been dismembered and his body parts discarded in a plastic bag next to the train tracks in Olympia.”
A probable cause statement reconstructs law enforcement’s months-long investigation into the gruesome death.
Olympia police responded to the scene of the strong odor Sept. 15 and found a black plastic bag containing bones and human remains, the document read.
“As I walked down to the location where the remains were located, there was a strong obvious smell of death which I was able to identify from previous death investigations,” Detective Eric Henrichsen wrote in the statement.
At first, police could not identify the body, but forensic analysis of three fingerprints brought back a positive match for Moore on Dec. 15. With the victim identified, police sought out his last known address.
Henrichsen located an address for the Fleetwood Apartments, a low-income housing building on Seventh Avenue, according to the statement. Three pieces of mail found around the scene of the remains also listed this address but were addressed to another person, the statement read.
The building manager reportedly told police that Moore had lived in a unit there but had not been seen since the beginning of August, according to the statement.
The manager also reported a wretched smell coming out Moore’s unit for about two weeks in mid to late August, the statement read. Maintenance crews eventually inspected the unit and found a maggot infestation and thousands of “meat flies.”
Based on this information, Henrichsen applied for a search warrant for the unit on Dec. 16. The next day police found six people within the apartment, including Jarstad, the statement read.
Interviews with each of the occupants allegedly revealed that Jarstad and two others beat Moore over multiple days. They also alleged Jarstad assaulted Moore the most and the night of his death, the statement read.
The people in the unit allegedly admitted to storing Moore’s body in the shower stall for about two weeks before placing his remains in a garbage bag, the release read.
Henrichsen wrote in the statement that he thought Jarstad appeared callous and showed no remorse.
“Jarstad was extremely upset I was investigating Moore’s death and repeatedly told me, ‘Why are you even wasting your time investigating this? … He deserved what he got,’” Henrichsen wrote.
The Coroner’s Office previously said the victim was a 32-year-old Olympia man who was known to be a transient. However, Warnock clarified Monday that Moore was actually 31 at the time of his death.
Jarstad is due back in court Dec. 29 for his arraignment. Lt. Paul Lower previously told the Olympian that there may be more arrests associated with the case.
