In the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 13, 1935, the body of 44-year-old White male, King County Deputy Sheriff Thomas Charles Meehan, was discovered by a farmer near his patrol car on the Old Valley Road, about a half-mile north of Kent. An eleven-month veteran of the force, he had been brutally killed, having been struck in the head with a blunt object and shot in the face.
Investigators believed he was murdered at another location before his body was moved to where it was found.
In the wake of the discovery, King County Sheriff W. B. Severyns and Chief Criminal Deputy O. K. Bodia initiated a massive investigation, ordering deputies to round up and question known criminals and any individuals whose lifestyles were deemed suspicious. Despite several arrests, no one was immediately charged with Deputy Meehan's murder. Key pieces of evidence found at the scene included latent fingerprints on Meehan's leather puttee, likely left by the killer while dragging his body, and a gunny sack that was traced to a feed company near Spokane.
The case broke on December 27, 1935, in Butte, Montana. A man named William Henry Wright, after killing three people including a Butte police officer, took a family hostage in their home. During the standoff, Wright admitted to one of the hostages and a female companion that he had killed Deputy Meehan after being caught stealing chickens. After the family was released and alerted the authorities, Wright was killed in a shootout with police as he attempted to escape. His confession brought a close to the investigation into the death of Deputy Meehan, a World War I veteran who was later buried in Enumclaw Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.
