`Towel Lady' Suffered Head Injury

SEATTLE - An autopsy has determined that Patricia Lorraine Barnes, known as Pioneer Square's "towel lady," suffered a massive head injury before her nude body was dumped in Kitsap County.

The woman's body was found Friday in a ditch 100 yards into Kitsap County from Pierce County along the Peacock Hill Road.

Detectives are looking for a white male, 30 to 35, with strawberry blond hair, 6 feet tall with a medium build as a "person of interest" in the case, said Kitsap County Undersheriff Chuck Wheeler.

He said a friend of the victim told police Barnes had been seen with such a man and he may be connected to a work-release facility.

Wheeler said Barnes, 60, apparently was killed elsewhere and her body dumped by the side of the road. Barnes last was seen alive Wednesday in downtown Seattle and she apparently had cash or a check worth $300, he said.

Barnes had lived in homeless shelters in Pioneer Square and was known as the "towel lady" because she often wore a towel or bandana around her head.

An autopsy determined she suffered massive head trauma, according to Jane Jermy, chief investigator for the Kitsap County Coroner's office.