An 82-year-old Washington grandmother who had been reported missing was discovered encased in concrete beneath a shed—her handyman, a convicted sex offender, is now the primary suspect, police say.
Authorities found Marcia Norman’s makeshift concrete grave on April 10, nine days after she last shared dinner with Jeffrey Zizz, a convicted child molester and her handyman, according to the Thurston County sheriff’s office .
“We spoke to [Zizz] a couple of times over the days, just trying to understand the interactions with her, the relationship, how often he’s known her, what he was doing at the house — that kind of stuff,” said Lt. Mike Brooks of the sheriff’s office, via Fox 13 Seattle.
Norman, from Tenino, Washington, was reported missing on April 4 after her family hadn’t heard from her since April 1. Her disappearance was quickly deemed suspicious—officers noted unfinished dinner dishes in the sink and both her vehicles still parked in the driveway.
The investigation led police to a crudely built shed Zizz had constructed on April 2 on an unrelated property in Olympia. After an excavation, Norman’s body was found buried beneath it.
Zizz was later identified as a person of interest. As detectives closed in, he fled to Missoula, Montana, where officers located and arrested him at a motel for violating sentencing conditions related to a previous child molestation conviction. He was extradited back to Washington on April 13.
Although Zizz, 47, hasn’t been formally charged in Norman’s death, he remains the lead suspect. Police have executed search warrants and impounded his pickup truck as part of the investigation.
He is currently being held without bail at the Thurston County Jail for the unrelated sentencing violation as the investigation continues.
