SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — Boaters found the body of a young man floating in the Snohomish River near Dagmar's Marina in June of 1980. He had no identification, no apparent ties to the area and was dubbed a John Doe by investigators.
But there were people out there who loved him and were desperate to get him home. “Whatever happened, we figured it was in God's hands,” said Dr. Jan Neitzel Knox, the young man's sister.
Her brother was 24-year-old Steven Lee Knox of Wisconsin. Jan said Knox, an Air Force Veteran, came to Washington state looking for adventure. He settled in Everett and not long after revealed a troubling secret.
“He told my brother there were bad people after him and if they find him they will kill him,” recalled Jan.
At the time, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner determined Knox drowned but exactly how and why were left "undetermined."
Knox's body was buried in an Everett cemetery 10 days after it was discovered. The case went cold for decades until, in 2016, Snohomish County Detective Jim Scharf decided to put fresh eyes on all of the county's cold cases.
Knox's file was discovered by accident – quite literally lost in the shuffle in a county records room – and on no one’s radar.
“In the 80s it wasn't electronic. They didn’t have the technology we have today. They were literally just paper files sitting in a room,” said Snohomish County Medical Examiner Spokesperson Nicole Daugherty, when asked how records like that could go missing.
In 2018, Knox's body was exhumed and DNA testing developed a family tree, which led investigators to stunned siblings in Wisconsin.
“Honestly, we never thought we'd ever hear,” said Jan. “We thought whoever did this to him after all this time did such a good job that after this long we’d never find out. We never expected this.”
Investigators say the new technology gives hope to the five remaining cold cases that line the walls of the medical examiner's office.
For the Knox family, they still need to know what led their loved one to the river that night, but at least he is finally on his way home.
For Knox’s sister, it is the first step toward finding peace.
“To have a space where everybody knows where he is, and can come visit, or at least know that he was buried with dignity and respect, that means everything,” she said.
If you have any information about the death of Steven Lee Knox call the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department tip line at 425-388-3845.