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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge)  Photo Gallery: Cold Case Cards   ADVERTISEMENT   About this series Snohomish County sheriff's detectives created the state's first deck of cold-case playing cards. Each Sunday for a year, The Herald is publishing a story about a case featured on one of the cards. Anyone with information about unsolved homicides or missing persons cases is asked to call 800-222-TIPS (8477). Up to a $1,000 reward is offered. Tips also can be left on the sheriff's tip line at 425-388-3845. Callers may remain anonymous, although tips have been more successful when callers speak with detectives, police said.   Related Stories • Woman's slaying still unsolved despite twist 1/4/09 • Reuben Lewis went missing in early 1991 12/28/08 • '93 slaying hangs over mother's life 12/21/08 • Young couple's slaying confounds detective 12/14/08 • Young mother was fatally shot in her home 11/30/08 • Mother looks to God after daughter is slain 11/23/08 • Cold case: Mother still has hope for missing daughter 11/16/08 • Mother's pain still fresh 25 years after daughter's death 11/9/08 • Cold Case: Hope persists that woman will be found 11/2/08 • Mother longs for answers in son's death 10/26/08 • God replaces fear for slaying victim's sister 10/19/08 • Police believe '91 slaying was drug related 10/12/08 • Cold Case: 'There was no reason' for death 10/5/08 • Man was helping others at time of his death 9/28/08 • Cold Case: Detectives don't believe mother's disappearance in '94 was voluntary 9/21/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008 Cold case: Man's body was found dumped in lot By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer LYNNWOOD -- A Herald newspaper carrier made the grisly discovery just after dawn. A man was lying face down in a dirt lot, shirtless and barefoot. A torn, blue cloth was wrapped around his neck. His last breath was long gone. There was no wallet in his Levis jeans pockets, just a key chain. Snohomish County sheriff's detectives asked for the public's help to identify the man dumped on the side of a suburban street. Investigators eventually learned his name. They haven't found whoever strangled him. Robert Kerr, 43, is on the 10 of spades in the state's first deck of cold-case playing cards. The 5,000 decks feature 52 unsolved killings and missing persons cases being investigated by police in Snohomish County. The cards have been provided to jail and prison inmates in hopes they will call detectives with tips that could lead to the arrest of a killer. Police in Florida have been using cold-case playing cards for a few years. Homicide detectives have solved a handful of homicides using tips from Florida inmates who saw cards and called police. The cases featured on the Snohomish County cards date back to the 1970s. They are giving hope to families who crave justice for their mothers, brothers, grandmothers and children. Kerr was found July 12, 2003 in a neighborhood of big houses. Based on the lack of evidence found at the scene, detectives believe he was probably killed somewhere else and dumped in the dirt lot. "We don't have anything that ties him to the Lynnwood but there's a possibility the suspects had ties to the area," sheriff's cold case detective Dave Heitzman said. Kerr hadn't been there long. He had spoken to his sister a few days before his body was discovered. He recently moved into the Paul Revere Apartment building on Capitol Hill in Seattle. After his death, investigators searched his apartment for clues. Someone had gotten there before them. The television, VCR and stereo system were missing. One man spent time in jail for stealing Kerr's belongings. Detectives hope to hunt down whoever stole his life. Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.

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