Human remains found in King County could belong to missing Enumclaw man

Human remains found near Enumclaw might belong to a man missing for more than a year.

Thirty-two-year-old Kris Burnstad disappeared, seemingly without a trace, until now. The human remains were found near where he grew up in the 38800 block of 258th Avenue Southeast near Bass Lake.

Detectives are not confirming at this point that the remains belong to Burnstad, but they confirmed their search is part of the investigation into his disappearance.

For 19 months, family, friends and investigators have been searching for Burnstad.
  
"I've talked to hundreds of people and passed out hundreds of flyers," said Stephanie Lynn.  "Nothing."

Lynn said her husband was a good friend of Burnstad, so she has searched for him in Bonney Lake, Tacoma, or wherever tipsters said they saw him.

"He was kind of in a bad crowd," she said. "But he never fell into like being a bad person."

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The search for Burnstad began soon after he disappeared last February. A neighbor said he spoke to Burnstad's mother and father then.

"And I knew how it affected them," said Sam Vanassa, who has lived in the Y-Bar-S neighborhood for 39 years.  "They were hurt that he was gone. He just disappeared. And they kept waiting for him to come back. And he never showed up."

Detectives have searched for Burnstad in the same area before, but this is the first time they have located what might be concrete clues to his disappearance.

Human remains were found on property Eric Sloss bought a year ago. Sloss said he never smelled anything that indicated a body was behind his house.

"They said he was under water. So that probably has something to do with it," Sloss said.

Those who love and miss Burnstad are bracing for what news may come.

"It would be the worst, yeah, because we've kind of had hope that maybe he wanted some time," Lynn said. "And so, yeah, it would be the worst."

The King County Medical Examiner has collected the remains. Pathologists will determine if the remains belong to Burnstad or someone else.

Cox Media Group