Lyle Stevik ( 1976 – September 16, 2001) was the alias used by an American man who, in 2001, committed suicide in Amanda Park, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. Although his body was quickly discovered, and fingerprints, DNA, and dental information collected and recorded, there were no matches in any databases and his identity remained unknown until 2018.
On May 8, 2018, the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office announced that "Stevik" was identified after almost seventeen years, with assistance through genetic genealogy conducted by the DNA Doe Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying unknown deceased persons. They had found a cluster of matches of relatives, perhaps two to three generations removed, in New Mexico. They were finally able to locate members of his birth family.
The man's family said that Stevik was 25 years old when he died, and he had previously resided in Alameda, California. They had believed that he was estranged from the family. His relatives requested that his identity be withheld for privacy.
Circumstances
The man who identified himself as "Lyle Stevik" checked into the Quinault Inn, a motel in Amanda Park, Washington, on Friday, September 14, 2001, after arriving in the area by bus. The clerk told police that he may have been Canadian as he spoke with what seemed a similar accent. When registering for his room, he entered his alias and provided a false home address, eventually discovered to belong to a Best Western hotel in Meridian, Idaho. The police located that hotel, but none of the staff members recognized photos of the deceased.
Stevik was reportedly seen walking back and forth at the side of a highway near the motel, but it is uncertain if this was before or after he registered and paid for his room. He requested and received a second room after complaining about outside noise.
Stevik may have derived his name from that of "Lyle Stevick", a character from the novel You Must Remember This (1987), written by Joyce Carol Oates. In the story, the character Stevick contemplates suicide.
Located by techniques of genetic genealogy performed by staff and volunteers of the DNA Doe Project in 2018, the man's family had been unaware of his suicide. They believed that he was living a life elsewhere and did not want to speak to them. Due to the estrangement, they had not filed a missing person report. There was no report that appeared to match the decedent.
Death
Stevik hanged himself by his belt from a bar inside a clothes closet. He had left money in the room to cover the remaining two nights of the weekend, together with a note reading, "suicide". He is thought to have died on September 16. His body was found on Monday, September 17. Initial reports stated that Stevik had stayed at the motel for two nights, but his actual arrival date was Friday, September 14, indicating that he had been registered at the hotel for three nights. He paid at the desk for one night's lodging, but said that he planned to stay for "a few more days".
Upon discovery of the body, police reported that the man had closed the blinds in the room and lined the closet in which he hanged himself with pillows. He left a note saying "for the room" at the bedside table, which contained $160 in $20 bills. It has been speculated that he may have taken his own life due to depression or because of a fatal disease, although the autopsy showed no signs of the latter. It was also theorized that the man was native to a non-English speaking country. An investigator said that a piece of paper was located in a trash bin with the word "suicide" written on it, as if he were practicing.
Stevik had no luggage with him; only a toothbrush and toothpaste were found in the room. He wore a blue shirt in a plaid design, a gray T-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and black boots.
Postmortem examination
Stevik was described as fair-skinned with black hair and green/hazel eyes. The local coroner's office said that he may have also had African-American ancestry, in addition to Native American and Hispanic. DNA analysis concluded he was at least one-quarter Native American and one-quarter Hispanic or Spanish. His teeth showed evidence of earlier treatment with braces. He had an old appendectomy scar. A mole was noted on his chin and he had attached earlobes, a genetic characteristic.