CAMANO ISLAND, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A murder on Camano Island has been solved more than 20 years after it occurred, but the killer will not be brought to trial.

The Island County Sheriff’s Office announced the night of Jan. 9 that it has closed its investigation into the 2003 murder of 39-year-old Tammy Mattson.

Prosecutors and police say they’re confident that the killer is 69-year-old Carl Schlobom, who is currently serving a life sentence in Arizona for a separate murder in 2005. But the Sheriff’s Office says he cannot be prosecuted for Mattson’s murder because he suffers from advanced dementia.

Mattson’s body was found at Camano Island State Park in December 2003 and detectives spent the next six years investigating the case without a suspect. Then, in 2009, DNA evidence found on a cigarette butt at the scene matched Schlobom.

In a 2021 interview with Schlobom, detectives say he explained that he killed Mattson over a dispute about a drug deal, but without a signed confession, he could not be charged.

Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks says Schlobom’s diminished mental condition now makes it impossible to prosecute him. Still, Banks hopes that resolving the case will bring some measure of closure to Mattson’s family.