On the morning of Sunday, April 25, 2021, a jogger discovered the body of 37-year-old Jose Luis Alejo Tamayo of Chehalis in a ditch along the 2500 block of 12th Avenue Northeast near South Bay Road in Olympia. First responders found him with his head in the ditch and his legs partially in the roadway; an autopsy later confirmed a single gunshot wound to the back of his head. Investigators recovered a damaged hat, small bags believed to contain methamphetamine and heroin, a 9mm ammunition round, and $140 near the body.

Detectives tied the killing to a dispute over a drug debt and learned the conflict escalated after Alejo Tamayo allegedly took a dog from an apartment belonging to one of the suspects. A meeting was arranged to recover the dog and, within days, arrests followed.

An anonymous tip led to two additional arrests: a 38-year-old man on suspicion of first-degree murder, believed to have been in the vehicle about an hour before the homicide, and a 32-year-old woman accused of helping that man evade police. Authorities said more arrests were possible. Did anyone in the Olympia or Chehalis area know Jose Luis Alejo Tamayo or have information about the dispute that preceded his death?