PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Superior Court Judge Simon Barnhart on Wednesday set the trial date for Tina Marie Alcorn, the woman charged with second-degree murder in the death of Native American woodcarver George Cecil David in Port Angeles nearly 10 years ago.
Assistant Attorney General Melanie Tratnik with the state Attorney General’s office and Alcorn’s public defender, John Hayden, agreed to the date of Aug. 11. Tratnik said she estimated the trial would take at least three weeks, with four weeks more likely.
The Port Angeles Police Department identified Alcorn, 54, as a prime suspect early in its investigation into the death of David, whose body was found March 28, 2016, in a Port Angeles apartment where the Neah Bay resident had been staying.
Alcorn was taken into custody, but no charges were filed. Shortly after she was extradited to Arkansas for violating the conditions of her probation there on an unrelated felony theft conviction.
In 2024, PAPD reached out for assistance from the recently established Attorney General’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) Cold Case Unit.
The unit provided support and resources, including testing DNA evidence collected by the PAPD in 2016.
A new probable cause statement was filed and a warrant for Alcorn’s arrest was issued on May 30.
Alcorn was arrested on June 3 in West Helena, Ark., with the assistance of the Phillips County (Arkansas) Sheriff’s Office.
After waiving extradition, a PAPD detective and an officer took Alcorn into custody and brought her to Port Angeles where she was booked into Clallam County Jail. She remains in jail on $1 million bail.
Alcorn’s is the first case charged by the MMIWP. The Attorney General’s office is prosecuting it with the concurrence of the Clallam County Prosecutor’s Office.
Her next court appearance is a status hearing scheduled for July 18.
David’s nephew Jim Thompson said the family was still healing from an old wound while now having to deal with it opening up again.
“It’s been a nine-year wait,” said Thompson, who is a lieutenant with the Lower Elwha Klallam Police Department. “We’re still here.”
The Port Angeles Police Department continues to investigate the case and encourages anyone with information call the department at 360-452-4545, ext. 1.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
