Washington Detectives Solve a 1962 Double Homicide After 64 Years

For more than six decades, the deaths of Charles Hale and Lester McCollum sat in a file at the Clark County Sheriff's Office in Washington State. On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, the agency announced that its Cold Case Team had finally solved the case. It is the oldest cold case resolution in the office's history.

The answer came with a painful twist. Investigators say both men they identified as responsible have died, so no one will ever face a courtroom for these killings. This account follows the sheriff's office release as reported by Clark County Today, KATU and KGW. Because neither man was ever charged, I am not naming them here.

Two Brothers in Law Found Dead in June 1962

On June 24, 1962, Charles Hale, 71, and Lester McCollum, 67, were found dead on a property near Battle Ground, in Clark County, Washington. The two men were brothers in law who lived in separate homes on the same land.

Both deaths were ruled homicides. According to the sheriff's office, Hale died from a gunshot wound to the head, and McCollum died from suffocation due to strangulation. Detectives at the time believed robbery may have been a motive.

Several days later, Hale's Ford sedan turned up in Seattle. Investigators lifted a fingerprint from the rearview mirror, but in 1962 there was no way to match it to anyone. The case went cold.

A Fingerprint That Waited 55 Years

The print stayed in the file until 2017, when it was finally matched to a man who had been just 17 years old at the time of the murders. Even then, progress was slow. The sheriff's office says the case was held back by competing priorities and a lack of dedicated cold case resources.

In October 2025, Cold Case Investigator Michael Ramon and Major Crimes Unit Sergeant Fred Neiman Jr. found the man, then 80, living in Hemet, California. He did not confess. Investigators said they found inconsistencies in his account, and he told them he had been traveling with another teenager around the time of the killings. He also voluntarily gave a DNA sample.

The DNA Breakthrough Came Two Days Too Late

Detectives worked with the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory to retest evidence saved from the original investigation. That included twine used to bind one of the victims and cigarette butts recovered from Hale's car.

On June 3, 2026, the lab results came back. DNA testing indicated the man was likely a contributor to the DNA on the twine, and the cigarette butts strongly linked him to the vehicle. As investigators prepared to seek an arrest warrant, they learned he had died of natural causes on June 1, just two days earlier.

The cigarette butts also held a second DNA profile. Detectives traced it to another man who had been a teenager in 1962 and who died in 2019. Using a reference sample from one of his descendants, the crime lab reported on October 1, 2026, that it had found strong evidence supporting him as the source of that profile.

Answers Without a Trial

Because both men are dead, there will be no charges, no trial and no verdict. The Cold Case Team says the evidence still provides answers in a case that went unsolved for more than 64 years.

"While we are extremely disappointed that the suspects cannot be held accountable in court, we are grateful to finally have answers," Sergeant Neiman said in the release. "A major part of our mission is finding the truth and providing some measure of closure to victims' families."

Investigators have contacted descendants of both victims to share what they found. The sheriff's office also noted that surviving relatives of both men cooperated throughout the investigation, a reminder that families on every side of a case like this carry its weight.

Why Old Evidence Still Matters

What strikes me most about this case is that someone in 1962 bagged a few cigarette butts and a length of twine and kept them. Nobody then could have imagined what a lab would be able to read from them six decades later. Careful work done long ago is what made these answers possible.

It is also a reminder that dedicated cold case teams make a difference. Files that sit untouched stay unsolved. When an agency puts people and time behind old cases, families who have waited a lifetime can finally hear what happened.

Clark County still lists other unsolved cases. If you have information about any of them, the Cold Case Team can be reached at 564-397-2036 or coldcase@clark.wa.gov. Please share facts with investigators, not rumors online. Charles Hale and Lester McCollum waited 64 years for the truth, and other families are still waiting.