Missing soldier faked suicide

Police arrest accomplice

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Police now say the 19-year-old Army soldier feared lost to suicide staged it with a friend. 

Devin Mitchell Schmidt, who failed to report for duty at Joint Base Lewis McCord on the morning of Dec. 19 had sent family members a video this week that suggested he planned to kill himself.

They recognized Fort Worden in the background and began searching there.

When they couldn’t find him, they called police and the U.S. Navy, Washington State Patrol, Coast Guard and Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife mobilized aircraft, boats and ground crews all day Dec. 19 to scour the Fort Worden shoreline and tall bluffs for Schmidt, finding only personal items he had left behind.

Police called off the search Thursday night and four hours later announced Port Townsend detectives had learned it was a hoax.

“Schmidt was located at a location he had pre-determined with a co-conspirator and longtime friend,” police spokesman Keppy Keplinger reported in a press release issued by Port Townsend Police.

Ryan Bell, 20, of Bonney Lake, was arrested in connection with the false missing person report. Schmidt is AWOL from the Army and was handed over to military police.

Bell was booked into Jefferson County Jail at 6:31 p.m. on Dec. 19 and was charged with perjury in the second degree, making a false report and obstructing law enforcement. 

The U.S. Navy and Washington State Patrol launched a helicopter and plane for an overhead search, while three boats deployed by East Jefferson Fire Rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife searched the waters near Fort Worden for Schmidt, who did not report for duty at Joint Base Fort Lewis McCord at 6 a.m. Thursday morning, Dec. 19.

Schmidt is described as six feet one inch tall with brown hair and brown eyes.  His mother is from Port Townsend, while his father lives in Puyallup, Jefferson County Undersheriff Andy Pernsteiner said.

One of his cousins and a friend came to Port Townsend Dec. 18 to search for Schmidt at Fort Worden after seeing the video. There, they discovered some of his belongings in the woods near the bunkers.

The Leader was not able to determine if Bell was one of the original reporters who came to search for Schmidt. 

“They thought it was possible that he had either fallen off the cliff, or jumped,” Pernsteiner said. 

The search began at 8 a.m. and involved the Port Townsend Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol, East Jefferson Fire and Rescue, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State Parks, Jefferson County Search and Rescue and Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management.

The agencies searched the ground at Fort Worden, covering the entire bunker area, Pernsteiner said.