ISLAND COUNTY: CLOSURE OF 2003 COLD CASE: MURDER OF TAMARA (“TAMMY”) MATTSON
The Island County Sheriff’s Office issued this press release on Thu., Jan. 9, 2025.
ISLAND COUNTY PROSECUTOR AND SHERIFF ANNOUNCE CLOSURE OF 2003 COLD CASE:
MURDER OF TAMARA (“TAMMY”) MATTSON
Today Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks and Island County Sheriff Rick Felici jointly announce the closure of the investigation into the December 9, 2003 murder of Tamara (“Tammy”) Mattson at Camano Island State Park. After twenty-one years, prosecutors and police are confident they have identified the perpetrator: 69-year-old Carl D. Schlobom, who is currently serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole in the State of Arizona for a 2005 murder. Unfortunately, Schlobom cannot be prosecuted for Ms. Mattson’s murder, even if prosecutors had sufficient evidence to prove his guilt, because he suffers from advanced dementia.
Tammy Mattson, a mother of seven children, was 39 years old when she was murdered. Her body was discovered dumped in vegetation at Camano Island State Park on December 9, 2003. For nearly six years, Sheriff’s detectives pursued leads and interviewed ever-widening circles of acquaintances but they kept running into dead ends.
At the time of the murder, DNA science was limited in the kinds of evidence it could develop for use in court. Then, in the summer of 2009, advances in DNA technology allowed the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab to develop DNA profiles from minute amounts of human biological material. In this case, that was cellular material left on a cigarette butt collected by police from a parking lot, not far from where Ms. Mattson’s body was found. Even with the new technology, prosecutor Greg Banks had to specifically authorize the testing, because the minuscule sample of material would be consumed in building the DNA profile, prohibiting later confirmatory testing by others.
The DNA from the cigarette butt matched that of Mr. Schlobom, whose DNA had been added to the national CODIS database when he was convicted in Arizona. Until scientists found the match, Schlobom had been unknown to Sheriff’s detectives. Scientists stated that, during the rainy winter months, DNA on the cigarette butt would have degraded within a few days. With the DNA match, police knew that Schlobom had been near to where Ms. Mattson’s body was found, at a time close to when she was murdered. The problem for investigators became how to prove that his presence in the park was at the exact time of the murder, and, moreover, that he was the murderer, and not just a witness or a bystander.
Police also knew Schlobom had murdered someone in Arizona. But this was of little help in building a case, because the Rules of Evidence would not allow prosecutors to tell a jury that Schlobom was a convicted murderer.
Over the next decade, Sheriff’s investigators responsible for this cold case tried to learn everything they could about Schlobom, and his connections to Ms. Mattson and her acquaintances. At the same time, they ruled out other individuals whose DNA was found on other litter items. Former Detective (now Lieutenant) Shawn Warwick, who had been trying to find Tammy’s murderer since Day One, was joined by Detective Ed Wallace in the effort. What little they learned was uncertain and often came from unreliable sources, according to the detectives. In November, 2019, Warwick and Wallace decided the only play left was to interrogate Schlobom at the Arizona prison. Schlobom refused to answer any questions and demanded to be returned to his prison cell. Detectives came back to Washington having only learned that Schlobom was in bad health and confined to a wheelchair.
A few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic started, and the investigation all but stalled out for fifteen months. Then, a letter Schlobom wrote to Island County detectives in April, of 2021 re-animated the case. Schlobom stated that he had information about Tammy’s death, and in exchange for a long list of demands, he offered to provide information about the murder. Detectives took the letter to the prosecutor, who has the authority to negotiate criminal cases.
Banks said: “Of all his crazy demands, the only one I considered was to allow him to spend the rest of his life in a Washington prison, if he turned out to be the murderer, and pleaded guilty.” Ultimately, Banks arranged for a “free talk” with Schlobom, where they could question Schlobom, under a temporary grant of immunity. Banks explained: “Without his confession, we were stuck. This allowed him to speak candidly and allowed us to verify that he was the killer before we would negotiate any kind of deal.”
In preparation for the interview, Banks, Warwick and Wallace consulted with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit on strategies for dealing with a killer like Schlobom. In the June, 2021 interview, Schlobom cooperated and answered all the questions put to him. Banks and the detectives left the interview confident that they had found Tammy’s murderer. “He knew things that only the killer and detectives knew,” said Detective Wallace. Moreover, he filled in gaps and explained his motive: he killed her over a dispute about a drug deal.
According to Banks, he and Schlobom agreed that, once prison transfer arrangements were finalized with Arizona and Washington Departments of Corrections, Schlobom would sign a sworn and verified confession, covering all of the information from the “free talk.” With the confession in hand, Banks would have then charged Schlobom in Island County with premeditated murder in the first degree and kidnapping in the first degree.
Unfortunately, the deal was never finalized. Under standard interstate protocols, a convicted inmate brought from State A to be prosecuted for charges in State B, would have to return to State A after the trial, and serve the original sentence in State A before being sent back to State B. Without an agreement between Washington and Arizona that Schlobom could serve his time in Washington, he would have been returned to Arizona after pleading guilty in Washington. Without a guarantee that he could stay in Washington, Schlobom would not sign the confession. Without Schlobom’s confession, there was no proof he was the murderer, and he could not be charged.
Washington’s prison system was not inclined to take on a prisoner with serious medical issues, particularly while there was a raging pandemic. At the time, the Department of Corrections was releasing prisoners who were most at risk from COVID. Arizona’s prison system was also unwilling to negotiate, apparently believing that Schlobom should serve his time in an Arizona desert prison, for crimes committed in Arizona. “I rattled all the cages I could,” said Banks, but he could not get the two prison agencies to agree.
Finally, an extradition official, with whom Banks remained in contact, reached out in the fall of 2024, and stated that he believed positions had softened in both states. He had relayed Banks’s persistent message that the victim’s family needed closure, and that justice should be served on Mr. Schlobom for the heinous crimes he committed in Washington, even if it added no time to his life sentence.
Banks tried to rekindle negotiations with Schlobom, but his attempts to contact him were met with silence. In October, 2024, a family member of Schlobom contacted Banks. She said that Banks’s letters had been forwarded to her by one of Schlobom’s unit-mates. She said that Schlobom had suffered a series of debilitating strokes and had advanced dementia. She doubted Schlobom could read or understand the content of the letters.
It took two months to get confirmation from Arizona prison officials that Schlobom suffers from advanced dementia and is confined to a Special Needs Unit due to his need for round-the-clock care and monitoring. Schlobom’s mental condition renders him incapable of being prosecuted.
Banks said that he is certain that Schlobom murdered Tammy Mattson, and that he acted alone. According to Banks, during the “free talk,” Schlobom was cold, matter-of-fact, and very forthcoming about the crime. “We’re always wary when talking with a suspect who is trying to get a deal from us,” Banks said. “But, in this case everything he said was consistent with what we knew, and was information that nobody else could have known. His memory was quite good at the time,” he added. Banks said it was frustrating that they could not make a legal record of Schlobom’s crimes, but at least he and detectives were able to give some measure of closure to Tammy’s family. They know who is responsible, and that he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Sheriff Felici said that the murder grew out of a personal beef between Schlobohm and Mattson, and there is no indication that anyone else was involved. He said that their investigation is now complete and closed.
