PORT ANGELES — Uniformed officers and police detectives canvassed Port Angeles bars and eateries this weekend searching for clues about the death of world-renowned Nuu-Chah-Nulth carver George Cecil David.
David was found dead inside an apartment unit on the 1100 block of East Columbia Street on Monday.
“Our investigators are confident in saying that given what we know right now, they believe he’s a victim of homicide,” interim Chief Brian Smith said.
“That’s not a final finding.”
Police had investigated the death as a possible homicide earlier in the week.
David, an artist from Port Alberni, B.C., had recently lived in Neah Bay and was visiting Port Angeles when he died at the age of 65, police said.
“We’re going to be talking to people to uncover more information about what Mr. David might have been doing and who he might have been with in the days and hours preceding his death,” Smith said.
“We’re going to concentrate on the downtown, talking to everybody who might frequent bars and restaurants.”
David’s body was discovered by an employee of a business connected to the apartment east of Olympic Medical Center.
Suffered an injury
David suffered an apparent injury before his death, Smith said. He would not be more specific about the circumstances of the death.
A State Patrol Crime Scene Investigation unit collected evidence from the apartment as detectives conducted interviews in Port Angeles and Neah Bay.
An autopsy was conducted Wednesday.
The results of the autopsy are expected in about a month, Clallam County Coroner and Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols said.
The autopsy will determine the manner and cause of death, Nichols said.
David’s work
David created carvings and totem poles that can be seen all over Puget Sound, including two canoes that mark Chief Seattle’s gravesite on the Kitsap Peninsula.
His pieces can be found in the collections of King Olaf of Norway and the City Hall of Kobe, Japan.
His work is at the Burke Museum — which included masks by the master carver in its 2007 exhibit, “In the Spirit of the Ancestors” — and at the Stonington Gallery in Seattle.
David was one of the master carvers at Peninsula College’s Culture Fair in March.
He was a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations in Tofino, according to the Alberni Valley News.
Anyone with information that might be helpful to investigators is asked to phone the Port Angeles Police Department at 360-452-4545.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
