Clark County cold case team solves double homicide 64 years later
Oct 14, 2026, 6:17 AM
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Team has solved its oldest cold case on record.
The breakthrough concerns the 1962 murders of Charles Hale, 71, and Lester McCollum, 67, near Battle Ground, Washington.
According to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, on June 24, 1962, McCollum was found dead inside his home after friends became concerned about his welfare. He was found dead with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Nearby, in a camping trailer parked on McCollum’s property, investigators found the body of Hale inside. He was also shot in the back of the head, according to the sheriff’s office.
Both deaths were deemed a homicide.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office said McCollum’s vehicle was missing from his home but was found three days later in Seattle.
Detectives believed robbery may have been a motive.
On Oct. 13, 2026, the sheriff’s office announced it had solved the murders.
The breakthrough came from advances in forensic technology, DNA testing, and “decades of steadfast detective work,” the sheriff’s office said.
In 2017, a fingerprint recovered from one victim’s vehicle was matched to Barton Stebbins, who was just 17 at the time of the murders, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators located and interviewed Stebbins in 2025, obtaining a DNA sample that would later help link him to evidence from the crime scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
“But there was an unexpected twist,” the sheriff’s office said. “When DNA results came back on June 3, 2026, investigators learned Stebbins had died just two days earlier.”
The cold case team continued working to identify a second suspect.
On Oct. 1, additional DNA testing provided strong evidence linking Walter Stain, who died in 2019, to evidence recovered from the vehicle in 1962, the sheriff’s office said.
“Although both suspects are deceased and cannot face prosecution, investigators have finally been able to provide answers to the victims’ families,” the sheriff’s office said. “This case is a testament to the persistence of our Cold Case Team, the importance of preserving evidence, and the advances in forensic technology that continue to help solve cases decades later.”
