New evidence released in murder of Mike Compton

The FBI released new evidence in the two-year-old murder investigation of Mike Compton of Orting. They believe it is significant and could lead them to a suspect or suspects.

The new evidence is an eCig wrapper found at the scene of the murder.

Related: Orting becomes a town divided

Multiple agencies are investigating Compton’s murder along with the FBI. The case is being investigated by the Orting Police Department and the new Cold Case Working Group based in Tacoma. It includes members of the FBI’s Tacoma Resident Agency, Fife Police Department, Bonney Lake Police Department, Tacoma Police Department, and the Lakewood Police Department.

The murder on Feb. 19, 2014, was Orting’s second in 15 years. Compton, 53, was killed with his own shotgun as he tried to stop a burglary in his garage.

His wife of 30 years, Nickie Compton, found him on their front porch.

“Being in the house and walking out the door is you know that’s a reminder anyway,” Nickie said in an interview back in June of 2014.

“Growing up together … my family and his family were so close, my brothers were like his brothers, and so I think about him all the time. Anything we did, we did it together. We worked on our house together. If we shot a deer and elk, we cut it up together.”

As a born-and-raised Orting man, Compton had a lot of friends. Chris Hopfauf was one of his best.

“We talked about [dying] a lot of times, that if we went down how we’d want to go, how we’d want to be buried or whatever and we said ‘don’t be wearing no suit and tie to my funeral, better be wearing camouflage’,” Hopfauf said.

His murder shattered Nickie’s life, it shook Hopfauf’s hometown pride and rattled the community.

Mike’s murder was a rare event in the town. Another cause for concern is the town’s drug problem; most point to meth and heroin isn’t just a whispered rumor anymore.

It was small-town Orting no more, but Hopfauf turned his grief into energy and formed Compton’s Crew – a citizen’s patrol group. His aim was to make the town feel safer by using citizen volunteers to patrol the streets day and night. The efforts were welcomed by some, but others said the group went too far and wanted the police to take the lead instead.

But until the gavel drops on Compton’s murderers, Hopfauf has vowed to keep pressing on to find justice.

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