PORT ANGELES — Special Deputy Gary Murphy, a founding member of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office’s cold case squad who helped solve the 1987 disappearance of a Port Angeles man, is turning over his remaining cases and retiring for a second time.
Murphy spent 45 years in law enforcement — 33 years as a member of the San Diego Police Department, and 12 years as a volunteer deputy with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office — and is retiring and moving to Las Vegas, said Undersheriff Ron Peregrin at Thursday’s ceremony at the Clallam County Courthouse, which was attended by about a dozen people.
The departing cold case specialist was presented with a Commendation Award for his 12 years of dedicated volunteer service.
“He thinks 45 years of service is enough. We disagree,” Peregrin said, noting the value of Murphy’s contributions to the department.
Murphy joined the Sheriff’s Office as a volunteer deputy in 2002 and immediately saw a need for work on cold cases — older cases of murder, missing persons, and mystery deaths no longer actively investigated.
As a member of the cold case squad, Murphy directly participated in updating the files and DNA profiles of eight Clallam County residents who disappeared under suspicious circumstances.
His most notable case was that of Norman Boullion.
The remains of Boullion, who disappeared from Port Angeles in January 1987 at age 39, were located in a Port Angeles backyard in May 2008, after Murphy and the cold case squad spent many hours researching the case, then caught a lucky break.
According to case files, Boullion had told family members that he was planning to travel to California, but never arrived there.
Family members reported he was missing, but he was not located and the trail went cold.
The case was reopened in 2007 when a prison inmate in Ohio told officials he had helped bury Boullion’s body.
Based on interviews with old sources, the cold case squad resumed the search.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Department excavated near apple trees behind the house at 3905 Bean Road, in Port Angeles, where cadaver dogs indicated a body was located, but Boullion’s body was not found.
In 2008, detectives got a fresh start on the case when a new resident of the house was excavating the yard to build tennis courts near the original search area and turned up skeletal remains.
An autopsy by the State Patrol determined the death was a homicide — he had been shot in the head — and DNA tests indicated that the remains were Boullion’s.
“Through [Murphy’s] tenacious efforts the body was found and the crime solved,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Peregrin said that officers think they identified the murderer but that the person is already serving life sentence and therefore they did not pursue the investigation.
Police have not released additional details of what they believed happened to Bullion.
However, Peregrin said, locating his remains brought closure to family members and friends.
At the ceremony, Peregrin read a proclamation by Sheriff Bill Benedict, who was not present because he had been called away to a family emergency.
“I’m going to miss the camaraderie and friendships I have developed with local law enforcement,” Murphy said.
Murphy grew up in Sequim, where, in middle school, he became friends with Tom Lowe, who became chief of Clallam County Fire District 3 before retiring 14 years ago.
“If I were a criminal, I would not want Gary on my case,” Lowe said.
The cold case squad still has a long list of missing persons, mystery deaths and homicides still under investigation.
Work to solve those cases continues without Murphy, but he said that hopefully someday they will find answers to at least some of the cases.
“I’m leaving a good group behind,” he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
