Aberdeen hotel employee found dead in suspected homicide

A woman was found dead in the main lobby of the GuestHouse Inn in Aberdeen Wednesday afternoon, in what police suspect was a stabbing incident. The victim was in her mid-50s, and working at the inn at the time of her death, according to Police Chief Steve Shumate in a press release. A 35-year-old female has been arrested under suspicion of homicide.

The Aberdeen Fire Department responded to the inn, located at 616 Heron St., at around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, for an “unknown medical problem,” according to Shumate. Shortly after aid arrived, they located a deceased female inside the lobby and requested the police department.

The victim sustained injuries consistent with a bladed object, Shumate noted.

Witnesses reported seeing a woman – “covered in blood” carrying several backpacks and drinking out of a tall aluminum can – leave the scene around the time of the incident, across West Heron and headed south toward State Street.

At approximately 4:20 p.m., a citizen called the Grays Harbor Communications Center to report a suspicious female with blood on her hands in the 200 Block of West Market Street, Shumate said.

Aberdeen officers immediately arrived and located the female suspect, who Shumate said was an Aberdeen resident known to the police department. She had small cuts on her hands, Shumate added.

The female subject was detained and eventually arrested for investigation of homicide.

On the curb outside the lobby after the incident, a man with blood on his hands was being questioned by police.

An aluminum can coated in blood was found at the corner of State and Alder near The Daily World offices and was secured by investigators as possible evidence.

Police were reportedly responding to the Safeway a couple of blocks east to reports of a woman there covered in blood.

At the time of Shumate’s press release, investigators from the Aberdeen and Hoquiam Police departments, and the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office were working on the incident.