Documents detail investigation into 2022 death of Ostynn Farrier as sheriff's office official deems it 'a tragic accident'

Two family members of Ostynn Farrier, an Onalaska man who burned to death inside a vehicle in Onalaska on Jan. 22, 2022, at the age of 26, gathered outside the Lewis County Law and Justice Center on Friday to demand answers from investigators about Farrier’s death.

“We’re coming out here to get answers about what happened to my brother,” Ostynn Farrier’s brother, Garrett, said on Friday.

The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has determined Farrier’s cause of death was thermal injuries and inhalation of products of combustion. Because his death was directly caused by the fire, Farrier’s manner of death is undetermined until investigators determine the cause of the fire, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

If the cause of the fire is determined to be arson, for example, the manner of death would be homicide.

Investigators with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, which is based inside the Law and Justice Center, told The Chronicle prior to Friday’s protest that they have heard the calls for answers from Farrier’s loved ones.

But there are some questions surrounding Farrier’s death — including the cause of the fatal fire — that, despite a thorough investigation into the incident and community theories surrounding it, detectives are still unable to answer.

“It’s unfortunate because we want to give the family answers,” said Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Detective Skylar Eastman, who has been the lead detective on the case since April 2023.

In his most recent report on the investigation, signed on Sept. 1, 2023, Eastman wrote, “There are multiple theories about what occurred on Jan. 22, 2022, although the evidence does not support anything other than this being a tragic accident. The most probable conclusion was this was an accidental death.”

With the investigation formally closed, Eastman, along with Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sergeant Matthew Wallace and Detective Sergeant Alan Stull, sat down with a Chronicle reporter on June 18 to go over the recently released investigative material, including incident reports, call logs, forensic test results, fire investigator reports, autopsy reports and other relevant documents.

Anyone can request the documents via a public records request to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, which can be submitted online. The case number to reference on the public record request form for the Ostynn Farrier case is 22C906.

Fire response

A resident of the 800 block of Larmon Road in Onalaska called 911 to report a fully engulfed vehicle fire at 2:42 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2022, according to court documents. The reporting party advised the car, described as “a newer F-150,” was in a ditch near the roadway and advised they didn’t see anybody in the vicinity. There was no indication anyone was inside the vehicle, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Fire personnel and law enforcement were dispatched, with Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies arriving first on the scene.

“I was literally the first officer on the scene for that. I was working as a patrol deputy at the time,” Wallace said.

Call logs confirm Wallace was on the scene by 2:56 a.m.

“The fire was really consistent. I could not approach (the vehicle) from the heat of it,” Wallace said.

In his report submitted on Jan. 22, 2022, Wallace wrote, “I attempted to walk around the truck to observe the cab of the truck (for) signs of occupancy. I was able to move towards the cab of the truck, but due to the intense fire, I was not able to safely approach it. I could see into the cab, noting the glass of the windshield, passenger side doors and rear window (were) gone. The interior of the cab appeared to be completely burned out based on only metal frames visible for the seats. This was as much as I could see due to the fire.”

A volunteer crew with the Onalaska Fire Department arrived at approximately 3:08 a.m., according to Wallace’s report.

“It took the fire department quite a while to extinguish the fire because of the gas tank being compromised and fuel pouring out,” Wallace said. “Every time they would get it somewhat knocked down, more fuel would spill forth or come out and then there would be a flare up.”

Meanwhile, deputies made out the vehicle’s license plate and determined it was registered to Ostynn Farrier.

“The family was almost immediately notified,” Wallace said, adding that deputies called Farrier’s phone and Farrier’s relatives to try and determine his location. Deputies weren’t able to get ahold of Farrier, but they did make contact with his father, Ed Farrier, who lived in Onalaska at the time.

Ed Farrier, who has since died of natural causes, recalled the phone call to a Chronicle reporter in May 2023.

He recalled calling nearby relatives to try and figure out where his son was, going to Ostynn’s residence in Chehalis to see if he was home, and ultimately going down to Larmon Road to watch fire crews and sheriff’s office personnel work to put out the burning truck.

“I had no idea he was in that truck,” Ed Farrier said in 2023, adding if he’d known, “I would have hurt my hands. I would have busted the windows. I would have done anything.”

Fire personnel ultimately had to call for a foam truck to suppress the fire, according to Wallace. Onalaska Fire didn’t have its own foam truck, so personnel requested assistance from Lewis County Fire District 5 in Napavine at approximately 3:49 a.m., according to Wallace’s incident report. The vehicle arrived at approximately 4:05 a.m. and began applying foam underneath the vehicle.

“Once that was finally sprayed on there, then it was knocked down to the point where it was smoldering and then we could actually get up (to the vehicle),” Wallace said.

It was only then that “a severely burned human body was discovered in the back seat of the vehicle,” according to an incident report.

Fire personnel were then told to do the minimum of what they needed to fully extinguish the fire, but to not interfere with the vehicle otherwise.

“Due to the circumstances, nothing else was done and the vehicle was left as is,” according to an incident report.

Stull and then-Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Detective Emmett Woods were then dispatched, arriving at the scene at 5:16 a.m. on Jan. 22, according to Woods’ incident report.

Woods’ investigation

Woods conducted an initial assessment of the scene before going to Ostynn Farrier’s home to confirm he wasn’t there.

He reported he saw “no signs of a struggle” in Farrier’s home or the shop on the property, and he confirmed no one was in the residence.

At approximately 6:42 a.m., Woods reported he “cleared the address and returned to the 800 block of Larmon Road. After I returned to Larmon Road, it was decided, due to the suspicious circumstances of the incident, a search warrant would be needed to search the vehicle for possible evidence of a crime,” according to Woods’ incident report.

“If we had something like this today, why would we call it a ‘suspicious death?’ Because we have a lot of unanswered questions,” Wallace said. “We’re not saying that this is definitely a homicide. We’re not saying that this is definitely accidental. We’re saying there’s enough unknowns that we need to dig into it.”

Woods reported that Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod and three deputy coroners had arrived on the scene by the time he got back to Larmon Road after visiting Farrier’s residence.

Woods requested a search warrant for the vehicle at approximately 8:37 a.m., and had the warrant approved by a judge by 8:49 a.m., according to Woods’ incident report.

According to Woods’ report and photographs of the scene, the F-150 was partially submerged in the ditch, with water covering the vehicle’s front bumper, half of the driver’s door and part of the driver’s side rear passenger door.

Almost every part of the vehicle above the water line was severely burned, with Woods noting only the middle section of the hood was still intact.

In the bed of the truck, Woods noted there was a pile of firewood, miscellaneous woods, wire sheets, an ax and the remnants of a toolbox.

“Only a small portion of the toolbox, on the driver’s side, remained. The fire charred a majority of the wood in the bed of the truck, but there were portions of the wood left unburnt,” Woods stated.

The interior of the vehicle was “completely burned, leaving only metal components of the interior, some electrical wiring and the metal seat frames,” Woods wrote. He did locate a rifle-sized bullet casing between the front passenger seat and the front passenger door, which was collected as evidence.

“No obvious gunshot wounds were located (on the body),” Woods stated.

Other evidence collected at the scene included the keys to Farrier’s car and his residence, which were found on the ground about a foot away from the driver’s side of the vehicle alongside some other debris. Woods noted that “these items were likely sprayed out of the vehicle while fire personnel (were) attempting to extinguish the fire.”

The body, which was later identified as Farrier, was “laying across the road floorboards, between the front seats and the back seats, with the skull leaning up against the rear driver’s side door,” Woods reported. “The skull was facing forward, towards the driver’s seat, with the left side of the skull leaning against the rear driver’s side door. The upper body was turned slightly, pointing towards the driver’s seat. The right arm appeared to be raised up towards the skull and bent at the elbow … (and) the left arm was positioned down by the left side of the body, with the left hand in the area of the midsection.”

Woods noted that much of the body, including most of the right arm, had been burned away.

The fire had damaged the vehicle’s doors to the point they would not open, leading fire crews to cut the driver’s side passenger door open so coroners could remove the body.

The Lewis County Coroner’s Office ultimately had to use dental records to identify the body as Farrier.

Once the Lewis County Coroner’s Office concluded its investigation of the scene, then-Lewis County Fire Investigator Noel Putaansuu began his investigation into the cause and origin of the fire.

According to Stull’s incident report, Putaansuu decided against collecting any evidence at the scene, saying “the burn pattern showed him what happened” and saying “there were no items he needed to collect for evidence.” He reportedly said he “thought the truck was doused in gasoline” and said he did not think holes burned through the passenger’s side hood and the nearby tire “had anything to do with the cause or origin of the fire.”

Once Putaansuu was done with his investigation at the scene, the truck was towed to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office’s evidence cage.

Then-Toledo Police Chief Sam Patrick, who is a fire investigator, reportedly examined the truck at Stull’s request after it had been towed. Stull noted he “had him look at the truck without giving him the details of the investigation.”

According to Stull, Patrick “said he believed the fire started underneath the hood area due to the burn pattern and the burn area on the right front of the truck,” but said “there would need to be further testing to confirm that.”

Forensic pathologist Dr. Megan Quinn conducted an autopsy on Farrier at the Lewis County Coroner’s Office on Jan. 26, 2022, according to investigative documents.

During the autopsy, all of Farrier’s clothing and “items that were stuck to him,” including “what appeared to be some type of Teddy bear,” a loose bullet and part of a soft-sided gun case, were removed from the body and taken into evidence. Stull, who was present for the autopsy, noted there were no visible lands or grooves on the bullet, meaning “it did not appear it had been fired.”

The clothing was sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for testing, with the crime lab confirming there was no flammable liquid residue on his clothing.

“This doesn’t look like a situation where somebody doused him with fuel or gas and lit him on fire,” Stull said. “We did a lot of steps like that at the time because we just didn’t know what we were dealing with. We wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a situation where (someone) was trying to cover up a crime by burning the body.”

Quinn determined there was soot in Farrier’s lungs, “indicating Ostynn was alive prior to the vehicle fire,” according to Woods. During the autopsy, “a projectile, possibly a bullet, was also found within the body,” but an investigation confirmed the projectile was most likely related to the fire and was not Farrier’s cause of death.

“It was likely a loose cartridge that exploded during the fire,” Eastman wrote in a supplemental report, adding that the finding was consistent with on-scene deputies’ reports.

Other injuries noted during the autopsy included “extensive charring” across most of Farrier’s body, and thermal fractures of the calvarium, sternum, anterior ribs and extremities. Quinn also noted soft tissue was exposed on the neck and organs were exposed on the abdomen.

“Dr. Quinn indicated she did not find any injuries not associated with the fire and contributed the cause of death to thermal injuries and the inhalation of products of combustion due to a vehicle fire. She also noted other significant conditions to include acute alcohol intoxication and cardiomegaly,” Eastman summarizes in a report.

Toxicology reports found that Farrier’s blood alcohol content at the time of his death was 0.158, which investigators note was twice the legal driving limit of .08. A postmortem forensic drug panel also found 11 mcg/ml of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) — which Quinn noted is a central nervous system depressant used in higher amounts to treat narcolepsy, but occurs naturally in humans up to 80 mcg/ml in postmortem blood from people with no pre-death exposure to GHB. According to Quinn’s report, a concentration of 52 to 150 mcg/ml could cause a “light sleep,” but an amount below that would have minimal effect.

Quinn noted “the 11 mcg/mL concentration (in Farrier’s blood) was well below concentration to cause even a light sleep and concluded GHB in this case was ‘non-contributory,” according to a summary written by Eastman.

Quinn explained to investigators that “she tested for GHB because the family suspected foul play,” according to documents.

After conducting interviews with Farrier’s family and friends, and confirming their accounts with phone records, crime lab tests, bank transaction records and business receipts, investigators concluded that Farrier went to visit his father in Onalaska the afternoon of Jan. 21 and left his father’s house at approximately 7 p.m. He then went to Frosty’s Saloon in Napavine and to the All In Tavern in Onalaska, leaving when that bar closed at about 12:17 a.m.

Investigators noted the place where Farrier’s car crashed into the ditch was about 3 miles away from the All In Tavern and was along a backroad route that Farrier likely would have used to get from the bar to his residence in Chehalis.

While several community members reported Farrier was also at the Brown Shack Tavern in Salkum on Jan. 21, the business’s owner and the bartenders working that night didn’t recall seeing him, and the business’s last recorded debit card transaction with Farrier was in August of 2021, according to Woods’ report.

“There is (no) evidence indicating Ostynn had contact with anyone after he left the All In Tavern, which was Ostynn’s last known location prior to the incident. There is also no evidence indicating anyone other than Ostynn was involved in this incident,” Woods stated in an Aug. 16, 2022 report. At the time, Woods stated, “I request this case remain active pending review.”

Followup investigation

Woods left the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office for a position at a department in Alabama shortly after Woods submitted that Aug. 16, 2022 report.

Eastman didn’t get assigned to the case until April 16, 2023, according to investigative documents.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that things weren’t going on,” Eastman said, adding that Stull stayed in contact with the family and continued monitoring developments with the case, such as new community tips, “but he’s not necessarily actively working on it.”

Woods had gotten the investigation to the point where investigators felt they had a decent understanding of what had happened, barring the cause of the fire, Eastman said. “So that’s why (Stull) asked me to review it in April.”

Around that same time, Ed Farrier submitted a letter to the editor to The Chronicle, relaying that he was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and that he hadn’t heard “a single word” from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office in the last 10 months.

“Detective Woods worked hard and was close to figuring things out but he quit the sheriff’s office. The sergeant assigned to the case made it clear he doesn’t care to hear from me without solid proof and he made suggestions that were not right,” Ed Farrier said in his letter.

A Chronicle reporter interviewed Ed Farrier in his home on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.

In anticipation of the meeting, The Chronicle asked the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office for an update on Ostynn Farrier’s case on Monday, May 8.

Realizing he hadn’t called Ed Farrier since he was assigned the case in April, Eastman called Ed Farrier shortly after 10 a.m. on May 9, coincidently during Ed Farrier’s interview with a Chronicle reporter.

“It seemed like he was very serious about getting things done,” Ed Farrier said of Eastman in May 2023.

Ed Farrier died at home in Onalaska, surrounded by family, on July 8, 2023, according to his obituary published in The Chronicle. He was 83.

“When he was alive, (the family) had a lot more questions and they reached out to us a lot,” Eastman said. “They were hoping that we would have this solved or somebody arrested before (Ed Farrier) passed away … We were never finished in time to give him that. I do feel bad for that.”

Discrepancies between fire investigations

Eastman’s review of the case included meeting with Noel Putaansuu to go over his findings on the cause and origin of the fire.

The report Putaansuu submitted to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was less than 500 words long, with little correlation between the narrative, the discussion of the evidence and his conclusion.

The conclusion Pataansuu came to in his report was, “This was an intentional event. The side of the fire was larger than expected for a truck of this size and the position of the vehicle was staged. There was no disturbance of the soil or pavement from the rear tires rotating or skidding.”

When interviewed by Eastman on May 18, 2023, about his findings, Putaansuu reportedly said “he did not have any resources to prove (his allegations)” and repeatedly talked about the smell of gasoline at the scene. When asked his reasons for why he believed the fire was intentional, “His reasons were: ‘fire was way too big,’ ‘no braking, no acceleration, no indication that this thing (vehicle) was in gear,’ and ‘to make a fire this big was an intentional act,’” according to Eastman’s report.

In Woods’ incident report and incident reports from deputies who responded to the scene on Jan. 22, 2022, it was noted that the road was icy and that the truck had most likely drifted into the ditch. They also noted the rear axle on the truck was stuck on a metal culvert.

Of the crash, Eastman said, “We just don’t know what caused it, if he’s skidding, if maybe he swerved on purpose, if he falls asleep (or) is looking at his phone, and there’s no brake mark until it’s too late … if he doesn’t apply the brakes until he hits, there’s not going to be skid marks to the gravel, or if he hits the brakes on the road and there’s not enough friction on the road.”

Eastman reportedly “explained to Mr. Putaansuu that I would need to prove his theory in court” and “reminded him he did not have the proof I would need,” according to his report.

Eastman reported that he asked Putaansuu “if he collected any samples on scene, and he shook his head ‘no,’” advising that “he does not normally collect evidence, he requests the sheriff’s department to do that” and claiming “the sheriff’s department often doesn’t.”

When asked where he believed the fire originated, Putaansuu reportedly said “in the back of the truck … because that’s where the photo of all the fire was.”

During the discussion, Eastman reportedly “explained the hurdle in this case would be that I have Mr. Putaansuu’s opinion, but I don’t have anything to back it up.” Putaansuu reportedly replied “Don’t worry about that” and “explained he understood I had a high burden of proof.”

When questioned further while going through photographs of the indecent, Putaansuu reportedly “advised that when the tow company started to move the vehicle, he started getting nervous, thinking maybe they should have left it in place and called in a ‘real expert’ better than me,” according to Eastman’s report.

Putaansuu reportedly pointed to the disclaimer in his report saying “the opinions presented in this report are using the current information obtained,” advising Eastman that “he was only given limited information for his report and if more information came to light, he could change his opinion.

Meanwhile, Stull arranged for Chehalis Fire Investigator Jay Birley to conduct an investigation on the vehicle, which was still in Lewis County Sheriff’s Office custody as evidence.

On May 19, 2023, Birley “collected photographs, fluid samples, and conducted a thorough investigation of the truck,” according to Eastman’s report.

During his investigation, Birley “noticed a battery cable clamp in the engine compartment had damages commonly associated with arcing.”

The evidence collected from the vehicle, including the fluid, was sent to a crime lab for testing to determine what it was and to determine the pre-fire condition of the engine and transmission.

In a report submitted on June 15, 2023, Birley stated that the fire most likely started in the engine compartment or near the dashboard of the passenger compartment.

“Mr. Birley listed several possible ignition sources to include an unspecified electrical failure of the battery, an electrical short of the battery, a hot surface ignition from a flammable fluid with the engine compartment or transmission, and an unspecified electrical failure of an electrical element,” according to Eastman’s summary.

Metal samples from the vehicle tested by the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab confirmed there were no ignitable liquid residues on the vehicle, according to investigative documents.

Birley also noted that “the vehicle being involved in a collision presents several possible ignition sources,” and stated “the ignition sequence cannot be determined to an acceptable level of scientific accuracy,” ultimately concluding “the fire will be listed as ‘undetermined.’”

Birley’s report included clearly documented evidence backing up his findings.

When asked if the sheriff’s office was considering a third opinion on the cause of the fire, Eastman said, “At this time, I feel that we are satisfied with what he have … we still have the vehicle, if the family or anybody else wanted a third or another opinion, it could be done. That’s why we still have it.”

Phone threat

In addition to following up on the fire investigation, Eastman’s review of the case consisted of going through the investigative material Woods had collected, conducting interviews that hadn’t been “formally done” during Woods’ investigation, and addressing questions and theories Ostynn Farrier’s family had about the incident.

Some of those theories were brought up and investigated in 2022 while Woods was the lead detective on the case.

Several community members, including Ostynn Farrier’s friends and family, theorized that foul play was involved in Farrier’s death because Farrier received a threatening phone call about a week prior to the car fire.

In that phone call, a male subject, identified in investigative documents as Patrick Trice, reportedly “threatened to kill Ostynn because the subject believed Ostynn was talking to his wife.”

The threat was not reported to law enforcement at the time.

During his investigation in 2022, Woods confirmed that Farrier purchased a gun from Trice’s wife for $1,200 in December 2021 because “she needed money while Mr. Trice was in jail” to buy Christmas presents for her kids.

Trice’s wife reportedly said the money was a loan, with the gun as collateral.

She told investigators “she only met up with Ostynn one time, to exchange the gun” but stayed in contact via social media.

When Trice was released from jail in January 2022, he reportedly went through his wife’s phone bill and called everyone she had been in contact with.

“If a male voice answered the phone, Mr. Trice would threaten the person to stay away from his wife … if a female voice answered, he would simply hang up,” according to documents.

Trice reportedly called Farrier back after the initial call to apologize “because he didn’t realize Ostynn was the one who helped with Christmas,” according to documents.

Trice’s wife reportedly confronted Trice the day after Farrier’s death “and asked him if he had anything to do with it,” with Trice reportedly saying “he would never do anything like that,” according to documents.

Trice allegedly “would make comments like ‘If I was going to do it,’ and explained he wouldn’t leave any evidence, no phones, and no trace,’” according to reports.

Investigators did ask Trice for an interview about Farrier’s death, but Trice declined.

Trice has since been arrested and sentenced to prison time on unrelated charges.

There was no probable cause at any point during the investigation to arrest Trice for a possible crime related to Farrier’s death, according to investigative documents.

Other theories and rumors documented by investigators include possibilities he was poisoned with GHB or another substance at the Brown Shack, that he committed suicide, that his ex-wife’s boyfriend had a vendetta against him, that Trice bragged about murdering Ostynn Farrier to a cellmate, that he got into a fight at one of the bars, and that he received a suspicious phone call at the All In Tavern and left suddenly.

“His toxicology report shows a high alcohol concentration and does not show a suspicious amount of any other substances. The phone records do not show that Ostynn had any suspicious phone contact on the day of his death, and other rumors have been unsubstantiated,” Eastman wrote in his report.

Discrediting many of the rumors was the fact that no other vehicles or people were seen anywhere near where the vehicle was found around the time of the fire, according to investigators.

“If you’re working under the theory that someone put him in that vehicle and then drove him there, does the person walk away from this fire out in the middle of nowhere where a deputy was at the time and would probably see him coming? Because (Wallace’s) response time is fairly quick … did somebody pull this vehicle with a tow strap? You can’t say any of those types of things, it just doesn’t add up,” Eastman said, explaining that none of the evidence documented by the sheriff’s office indicates foul play was involved in Ostynn Farrier’s death.

Unanswered questions

Some of the circumstances surrounding the fire have left Farrier’s family with questions that they believe suspect foul play.

Those circumstances include Ostynn Farrier being in the backseat, a place his sister Fawn Farrier said would be extremely uncomfortable for him due to his size and the fact that he typically had two car seats strapped into the backseats.

“The car seats were never found, and he never took those car seats out of the truck,” Fawn Farrier said during a phone call with a Chronicle reporter on July 28. “Their assessment of him willingly climbing into the backseat is confusing to me.”

Investigators noted that the position of the vehicle in the ditch and the level that the driver’s door was submerged would have made it difficult for Ostynn Farrier to open that door.

While both Ostynn Farrier’s family and local law enforcement were familiar with his habit of driving drunk and being involved in DUI collisions, Fawn Farrier said it was out of character for him to remain at the scene after a crash.

“Once, he totaled his car and he walked away from it … and he walked miles away from that one, many miles for another one. It does not make any sense at all that his truck would get into the situation it's in and he would crawl into the back rather than walking to his grandmother’s house, which is less than a mile away,” Fawn Farrier said.

She added that she and the family believe Putaansuu’s conclusion from the initial fire investigation was correct, and was discredited due to personal conflicts between Putaansuu and members of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

“He actually talked to a lawyer, because he did not like how that went down and how uncomfortable he felt with it,” Fawn Farrier said of Putaansuu.

The family is also unsatisfied with the level of investigation the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has put into the tips and theories people have submitted.

Possibilities investigators have discussed for why Ostynn Farrier was in the back seat at the time of the fire include that he decided to nap due to the time and his level of intoxication, or that he was trying to escape the vehicle through another door open because he couldn’t open the driver’s side door, and passed out due to carbon monoxide exposure before he got a door open.

“These are all theories that are just like, ‘What can we prove and what can we not prove?” Wallace said. “We have no idea what was in his mind, what the thought process (was). What we can prove is how did he actually die? So, unfortunately, it’s going to probably be undetermined because of the fire.”

Said Eastman: “We understand that no family wants to think (that) accidents happen, and it’s a survival method for a lot of people (to think) ‘this would never happen to me.’ But when you do have to face the mortality of a potential accident, it’s hard to get people to wrap their mind around.”

What’s next?

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has submitted all of its investigative material to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

After reviewing the material, the prosecutor’s office declined to file any charges related to the incident, according to the sheriff’s office.

“There isn’t enough to charge or say that any other person was involved more than (this) just being a tragic accident,” Eastman said.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office investigation into Ostynn Farrier’s death has been suspended, meaning it is closed but could be reopened if the sheriff’s office receives substantial new evidence.

Garrett Farrier told a Chronicle reporter on Friday that the family has hired a private investigator to conduct an independent investigation into the incident.