Police not amused with texter who sent phony murder message

BURIEN, Wash. — A Burien woman feared the worst when she received a text message asking where to hide a body, and a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier is under investigation after police learned the message was a hoax.

The Burien woman asked not to be identified because she doesn’t want to be identified as the person who called police.

Police said the woman recently received a text from an unknown number that asked "Where do I hide the body?"

Wanting to learn more, her husband texted back: "You tell me."

The sender responded.

“This was your idea.  I’m not taking heat for this (expletive). You wanted him gone and now he is. You said you had a place. Where the (expletive) are you?”

The woman and her husband called police, and a King County Sheriff's Office detective opened a homicide investigation.

A search warrant was filed and the phone number lead police to the sender.

“It’s my understanding he is a service member at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and I can tell you from experience, he’ll probably get more punishment from his commanding officers than he will from the courts,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Cindi West.

The “Where do I hide the body,” text message is apparently a common social media hoax that encourages people to send the message to random phone numbers.

But the recipient didn't think it was funny.

“The wording is scary. I want it to be a joke. I want to think it’s a joke, but what if it’s not?  Someone out there might need some help,” said the Burien woman.

It was also no joke to the King County Sheriff's Office.

“The time it takes to do this was time we could have spent better off solving another crime,” said West.

A spokesman for JBLM, Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield, said they are investigating the incident.

KIRO