In the early morning hours of January 24, 2023, the life of 28-year-old Hispanic male, Steven Valadez Jr. of Santa Cruz, California, was tragically cut short in Everett, Washington. An employee on Riverside Road was the first to report the sound of gunshots, leading to a grim discovery. When the employee went to investigate the noise, they found a man in a car with blood on his face.
This man was identified as Steven Valadez Jr., who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed that Valadez's cause of death was a gunshot wound and officially ruled the manner of his death a homicide. The initial investigation into the shooting quickly pointed towards a murder-suicide scenario. Police were led to a second scene after an abandoned car, belonging to a man believed to be suicidal based on a prior 911 call, was found in the 500 block of West Marine View Drive, just two miles from where Valadez was discovered.
Later that day, authorities received another 911 call reporting a man's body in the water near the 400 block of 14th Street in Everett. The body was recovered and identified as 31-year-old Nickolas Mazur. The medical examiner's office determined that Mazur's cause of death was suicide. Detectives believe that Mazur was the suspect in the homicide of Steven Valadez Jr. and the same individual who had been reported as suicidal earlier. Due to the suspect's death, no arrests were made in connection with Valadez's murder.
