PORT ANGELES — A moment of silence for Melissa Leigh Carter preceded Tuesday night’s meeting of the City Council as its members sought to find “community and compassion” for the 15-year-old girl’s death.
“It’s a local tragedy in the sense that a young girl lost her life,” said City Manager Mike Quinn.
Carter’s body was found Dec. 26 near a muddy path that runs off the Waterfront Trail not far from Hollywood Beach.
Police on Tuesday took another shipment of forensic evidence to state crime laboratories in Everett and Seattle, Police Chief Tom Riepe said.
He said the evidence could take several weeks to process.
Cause of death
Police also are waiting for a cause-of-death ruling by Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney and Coroner Deb Kelly.
Kelly, in turn, is awaiting a pathologist’s report on toxicological tests from an autopsy that was performed Dec. 27.
It may be three more weeks before those results are released, but police are treating Carter’s death as a homicide.
Riepe said the autopsy did not reveal physical evidence to confirm or exclude a sexual assault. The girl was found wearing only shoes.
Investigators at the scene found no obvious signs of trauma to the body.