Trail where hikers slain remains closed

A popular Snohomish County mountain trail where two Seattle women were shot to death last week remains closed while investigators search for clues.

The trail leading to Pinnacle Lake, U.S. Forest Service Road 4021, was closed Friday by sheriff's investigators. Sheriff's spokesman Dave Hayes says there is no date slated for it to reopen.

On Tuesday, Mary Cooper and her daughter, Susanna Stodden, drove up to the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest for a hike. Witnesses said they last saw the women alive about 10 a.m. Tuesday at the trailhead to the 1.9-mile Pinnacle Lake trail. About four hours later a hiker called 911 from a pay phone after finding the 56-year-old school librarian and 27-year-old Seattle Audubon employee.

No arrests have been made.

It is believed that when the women were killed, three vehicles were parked at the trailhead: one belonging to the victims, one belonging to the hiker who found them and a third vehicle. It wasn't immediately known whether detectives know who was in the third vehicle or whether its occupants are part of the investigation.

On Friday, Dave Stodden, the slain woman's husband, and the couple's family drove up to the Pinnacle Lake trailhead, shortly before the trail was closed. "I felt it was really important to go where we were afraid to go," Stodden's daughter Elisa, 24, would say later.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com

Information previously reported in The Seattle Times is included in this report.