Twenty-four years after he was murdered on a rural road near Lake Alice, Tod Berkebile’s killer is still at large.
With the 1986 Snoqualmie slaying still on King County Sheriff’s Office cold case list, family members home that an upcoming televised segment on Washington’s Most Wanted program will move viewers and spark progress.
“We need to get a lot of Valley viewers,” said Berkebile’s sister, Deborah Reed. “Someone knows something and it has gone on far too long.”
Tod’s story will air at 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 10 and 11, on Q13 FOX, and at 9:30 p.m. on Joe TV.
The 17-year-old North Bend student dreamed of becoming an engineer or a botanist. He was a hard-working student, and worked full time at the family restaurant, gardened with his mother and showed plenty of promise. But he had a dark side his family didn’t know about.
Police believe Tod was selling cocaine in small quantities to acquantances. His involvement in drugs was probably what led to his death on the night of Saturday, Nov. 29, 1986.
Tod left work at the Mount Si Golf Course restaurant, and left his car in front of the Snoqualmie laundromat. Family members believe he attended a party at a Lake Alice resident, and left or was lured to an isolated Weyerhauser road a few miles away.
A Lake Alice man found Tod’s body shortly after midnight in the middle of the logging road. The man who found had taken a walking shortcut to his home from Highway 18.
Berkebile died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and neck, and examiners placed the time of death around 8 p.m. Saturday.
Robbery may have been the motive, and detectives believe he knew the identity of his killer. Police also think there may have been at least one witness to the murder.
Berkebile’s family offered a $1,000 reward for tips leading to a conviction. The reward was never collected.
Following the initial investigation, officers asked for prosecution against their chief suspect, but the county prosecutor declined to file charges, citing a lack of evidence.
Family members filed and won a wrongful death lawsuit against that suspect, but say they never saw a dime of a $250,000 settlement.
No one has ever been charged with a crime in the Berkebile slaying.
Last Tuesday, the Most Wanted film crew interviewed King County detectives at the scene of the party and the killing.
Investigators hope the televised faces and places will spark memories in the people— then teens, now adults—who were involved, even peripherally, in that night in 1986.
“We’re looking for more information about that night,” Reed said. “Has anybody said anything? Is anybody ready to tell us what happened?”
Reed said she hated to go over the killing again with investigators. The death of her brother broke her family apart; Her father later took his own life.
“I had to work myself up to even talk to this detective,” Reed said. “He told me, ‘Listen, your brother has a right to have his day in court.'”
Asked what justice would bring to her family, Reed’s voice broke in emotion.
“Oh my God, maybe some peace.” she answered. “Everybody has a right to live their life. Nobody has the right to take a life. It’s not right that this person goes free and we’ve lost our loved one.”
“Someone knows something,” Reed said. “We wait for the phone to ring. It will happen, sometime.”
• If you have information on Tod Berkebile’s death, call Crimestoppers at 1 (800) 222-TIPS.
