PORT ANGELES — A 54-year-old Joyce man found dead in Heart o’ the Hills campground Feb. 4 died of a head wound caused by a bolt (a short arrow) fired by a crossbow, the county prosecuting attorney and coroner said Wednesday.
Christopher E. Boysen’s body was found at the campsite south of Port Angeles by Olympic National Park personnel after his landlord reported him missing.
“I don’t have any reason to believe foul play exists because I haven’t been alerted as to that,” said Clallam County Prosecutor Mark Nichols, who also acts as the county coroner.
Nichols said that how Boysen had been shot remained under investigation Wednesday by the FBI, which is conducting the investigation with the National Park Service.
“Our pathologist is working to come up with some more information,” Nichols said.
He said he did not know where the entrance wound was in Boysen’s head.
Boysen’s sister, Kimberly Boysen, said she didn’t know if her brother’s death was a homicide, a suicide or an accident.
“That’s what they’re trying to determine,” she said Wednesday from her home in Mastic, N.Y.
“It’s all up in the air. All of it.”
Kimberly Boysen said her brother owned a crossbow he used for target shooting at the home he rented off Seal Rock Road near Joyce.
“He’s always done something like that,” she said. “That’s not something new.”
She said investigators had told her they found no suicide letter where her brother’s body was discovered, space No. 18 in the campground that lies just beyond the Port Angeles entrance to Olympic National Park.
Kimberly Boysen said she was frustrated by the lack of a finding of cause for her brother’s death.
“I have his ashes,” she said, “but I can’t do anything with them because I don’t have a death certificate.”
Boysen was called “as close to a hermit as anyone I’ve ever seen” by his landlord, who reported Boysen missing after he left his apartment Jan. 22 on an announced camping trip but didn’t return after more than a week.
Boysen had registered at the campground Jan. 24 under a four-day permit. His Jeep Grand Cherokee was found there.
According to Morrison, Boysen had paid his rent before leaving, and a check of his bank records revealed a recent $100 cash withdrawal.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.