Death of man found unresponsive in Tacoma parking lot ruled homicide. Police seek killer
Richard Piel died after a fight in a Tacoma parking lot, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Piel was found unresponsive Sept. 18 by a passerby who flagged down a police officer patrolling the area.
Police looked into the death by processing the scene and scouring for witnesses, but it wasn’t until this week that the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Piel’s death a homicide.
The cause was sudden cardiac death during a physical altercation, according to the Medical Examiner. Contributing factors were high amounts of methamphetamine found in his system and a history of heart disease.
Officials at the Medical Examiner’s Office declined say why they believe Piel died in a fight or why it took three months to rule his death a homicide.
Piel was 59, grew up in the Tacoma area and worked in construction and metal recycling, according to an obituary.
Investigators have been unable to determine where he’d been living before he died in a parking lot off Puyallup Avenue, beneath the Interstate 705 overpass.
Detectives are trying to determine what happened.
His death brings the number of homicides in Tacoma this year to 32.
