PORT ANGELES — Melissa Leigh Carter, the 15-year-old whose body was found near a muddy waterfront path on the day after Christmas, was strangled to death, a forensic pathologist has determined.
The results of Dr. Daniel Selove’s examination of the case were announced Wednesday, confirming what police have believed from the start — that Carter was a homicide victim.
“This confirms what our initial tack was, that there was foul play involved,” Police Chief Tom Riepe said Wednesday.
“Cause of death is strangulation by homicide, and so we’re continuing with great emphasis to work on the case.”
The ruling on Carter’s cause of death came a day after Riepe said investigators had developed a “person of interest” in the girl’s slaying.
That individual remains a “person of interest,” he said Wednesday. Riepe would not give further details about the person or clarify what the department means by the term.
Among other law enforcement agencies, a “person of interest” can variably mean a potential suspect, a witness or someone authorities hope to speak with further.
No arrests have been made in the case, and no suspects have been named.