PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Police Department has conclusively identified the suspect in a sexual assault case that has been open for the past 36 years.
DNA evidence has linked Kim John Cederleaf of Quilcene to the crime. Cederleaf died in 2013.
June 22, 1988, was a day that two Port Angeles girls, 11 at the time, likely will never forget.
That day, the girls were sleeping over in a playhouse attic in the 300 block of East Sixth Street. Early in the morning, an unknown male forced entry into the attic, blocked the escape route, physically assaulted them and threatened harm if they resisted.
He then sexually assaulted both victims and fled the scene, according to a press release from the Port Angeles Police Department (PAPD).
Now those girls have learned who their attacker was.
When the police were called in 1988, the crime scene was thoroughly examined. PAPD officers and detectives conducted searches and interviews. Photographs, latent prints, bedding, biological samples from sexual assault examinations and an article of clothing believed to belong to the suspect were collected as evidence.
The neighborhood was canvassed, a composite sketch of the suspect was created and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office did a bloodhound search.
Despite pursuing dozens of leads, utilizing FBI profiling specialists and state and international fingerprint analyses, no suspect was found.
Once the leads dried up, the case went cold.
Although it was out of the general public’s mind, officers and detectives at the PAPD never let it go.
“It was a case that was always on somebody’s mind at the department,” PAPD Detective Sergeant Kori Malone said.
In 2001, the suspect’s DNA profile was uploaded to the combined DNA index system, but there was no match.
In 2012, it was submitted to Interpol to search for profiles in Canada’s database. Again, no results.
In 2024, the PAPD sent a DNA sample to Identifinders International for a forensic genetic genealogy analysis.
Identifinders International founder and president Colleen Fitzpatrick said the testing is similar to – but more difficult than – using a genealogy database to find relatives of adoptees.
The process essentially uses a limited genealogy database to find DNA relatives of the suspect and then compiles, sorts through and analyzes that information to determine where in the genealogy the suspect fits.
“It’s like a big Sudoku puzzle,” Fitzpatrick said.
That analysis led people to believe that Cederleaf was the suspect — although his DNA would need to be tested to be sure.
Luck was on the PAPD’s side. Although Cederleaf had been cremated, a vial of his vitreous humor — a clear, gel-like substance found in the eye — had been preserved at the Bradley-Kosec Funeral Home in Port Townsend.
David Bradley, funeral director, said vials of vitreous humor are taken and preserved — forever — whenever toxicology is requested.
Testing confirmed what the PAPD suspected: Cederleaf’s DNA matched the suspect’s profile.
Now that the “who” is solved, however, Malone said the “why” is still up in the air.
“We have not found a connection yet for why he was in Port Angeles at that time or how he came to be in the area,” she said. “We haven’t found anything that shows he knew the family of either victim.”
Since there are still unanswered questions, the PAPD’s investigation isn’t over. Malone said police have interviewed two people who knew Cederleaf and are looking to talk to anyone else who may have known him.
One reason the PAPD wouldn’t let this case go was so they could bring some resolution, however small, to the victims, Chief of Police Brian Smith said.
“People don’t realize how much the investigators go through to find resolution for victims,” Smith said. “Our job, fundamentally, is to speak for people who can’t speak for themselves.”
Throughout the 36 years this case was waiting at the PAPD, numerous investigators picked it up, examined it and looked for new angles.
“They [the detectives and officers] spent decades with this on their minds, second guessing, can we do something more?” Smith said.
Now, at last, “something more” has been done.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
