“Mary Anderson”

On 9 October 1996, a woman checked into Seattle's Hotel Vintage Park. Two days later, staff members would find the woman's body inside of room 214, peacefully lying on the bed. However, as authorities began looking into the woman's bizarre death, they discovered a baffling mystery...

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Located in Seattle, Washington, along the traffic-ridden I-5, the Hotel Vintage Park is a location that lives up to its namesake. With a classic boutique look, the Hotel Vintage Park (now known as the Kimpton Hotel Vintage) has long shared a building with the ritzy Tulio Ristorante and is within walking distance of Seattle's many tourist attractions; including the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium and Art Museum, and even the infamous Gum Wall.

To many, the Hotel Vintage Park is the perfect place to stay when you're visiting Seattle for either business or pleasure. For one woman, however, this was the place where her life's story came to a tragic, mystifying end.

This is the story of Mary A. Anderson.

On Wednesday, October 9th, 1996 - an unusually warm Fall Day in the Seattle area, with temperatures reaching 80 degrees - a woman phoned into the Hotel Vintage Park, hoping to make a reservation for the next two days.

About 90 minutes later, the woman arrived via cab, carrying two bags with her. She spoke to an attendant and paid cash for her two-night stay, booking a "Superior Guestroom," which cost approximately $149 each night. In total, she paid about $350 for both nights.

During check-in, this woman used the name "Mary A. Anderson" to identify herself. When asked to provide an address and phone number, she did so, listing her address as "132 East Third Street, New York, NY 11103" and her phone number as "212-569-5549." Unfortunately, none of these identifiers were real.

While the ZIP and area codes used in the address and phone number matched up with legitimate areas from New York City - from Queens and Manhattan, respectively - they did not match up with the address and phone number this woman provided. While this indicated some familiarity with the NYC area, neither of these two were legitimate... but the staff at the hotel had no reason to suspect otherwise, at the time, since this information was only used to verify identities later on.

This woman would scratch her name with the hotel register, writing "Mary Anderson" while checking in to her room, Room 214, which the hotel had provided to her (since it was available at the time). Later on, authorities would note hesitation marks in the woman's handwriting, which led them to believe that the name wasn't real at all. Most likely, the woman had refrained from instinctively writing her own name, and had come up with this identity on the spot.

During her two days there, the woman in Room 214 - who identified herself as "Mary Anderson" - had not spoken with or interacted with any of the staff.

Two days later - on Friday, October 11th, 1996 - staff at the Hotel Vintage Park would note that the guest from Room 214 had exceeded her stay, and had not called in with them to extend it before her check-out time.

A staff member was sent to check in with the woman in her room and made note of the "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on the door, which she had placed on the handle shortly after her arrival. This bellhop would attempt to enter her room but noticed that the deadbolt was secure from inside... indicating that someone was still in the room.

Staff members of the hotel would enter the room, and discovered the woman reclining on the bed, laying on top of the sheets, propped up by several pillows. She was wearing black clothing and pink lipstick and almost appeared to have fallen asleep while reading a book. Close to her chest was a large, black King James Bible, which was open to Psalm 23:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

The woman, laying on her back with her neck propped up and arms resting beside her, looked peaceful... serene, even. To the staff member that initially entered the hotel room, she looked like she had simply fallen asleep. However, a quick check of her pulse revealed that this was not the case. Sadly, the woman was no longer alive.

A drinking glass next to the woman, resting innocently on a nightstand next to the bed, would later reveal the reason for her death: cyanide, which she had seemingly consumed of her own volition.

On the bedside table, next to the glass containing cyanide residue, was a note that the woman had written on hotel stationery:

"To Whom It May Concern,

I have decided to end my life and no one is responsible for my death.

Mary Anderson

P.S. I have no relatives. You can use my body as you choose."

Authorities were called to the hotel, and observed that the woman's room appeared to have been kept neat and orderly... not scattered or messy, as you'd expect.

As you'd imagine, attempts to locate this woman's next-of-kin were stymied by the information she had left behind. Investigators would quickly learn that the name she had provided to the front desk, "Mary A. Anderson," was not her real name; and that the address and phone number she had provided were not legitimate (despite the information within them revealing an apparent affinity for the boroughs of New York City).

A search of the woman's hotel room would reveal that she had gone through great lengths to hide her actual identity. At the time of her death, she had no forms of identification on her and had destroyed items in her possession that might have indicated her true identity (such as labels on prescription pill bottles, etc.).

The King County Medical Examiner's Office would handle the autopsy of this woman's remains and the investigation into the mysterious circumstances of her death, later detailing in their official report that she had killed herself through a lethal cocktail of Metamucil and cyanide. Because of the usage of cyanide, the woman's facial features may have been distorted after death, but it was estimated that she was somewhere between her mid-30s and early-50s; more specifically, between 33 and 45 years old, but likely on the higher end of that spectrum.

Before this woman decided to take her life, she had gone through the effort of ensuring that she was well-groomed, with the M.E.'s report noting that her nails were well-manicured and painted a cream-white color, her eyebrows were neatly-plucked, her ears were pierced, and she had put on a fresh coat of makeup before ingesting cyanide (makeup that made her appear several years older than she was). She also had some crooked front teeth, but otherwise, her teeth appeared to be in "perfect" condition.

She stood about 5'8" tall, weighed approximately 240 pounds, had neatly-combed auburn hair and brown eyes. While she might have colored or treated her hair sometime before her death, this auburn color was her most likely natural hair color. Meanwhile, it's worth noting that light eyes tend to darken after death, so it's unknown if that happened here, turning the woman's eyes darker brown (or if they had been that dark throughout her life).

At the time of this woman's death, she still had a copper intrauterine device inserted, but unfortunately, the serial number had worn off with time. Authorities would attempt to track down where she had received the IUD through a specific part number but discovered that it matched thousands of similar devices sold all over the U.S. So finding a specific match would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

During an autopsy, it was noted that this woman appeared to have had bilateral breast surgery at some point, which left scars beneath both breasts and near her nipples. While some theorize that she might have had breast cancer, these scars most likely came from cosmetic surgery of some kind... most likely breast reduction surgery.

Other than consuming the cyanide that had ended her life, this woman appeared to be in good health otherwise, and appeared to have never given birth.

During her two-day stay at the Hotel Vintage Park, no one had seen this woman leave her hotel room. She had not ordered room service, had not made a peep during her stay, and had not even used her hotel phone to make any calls. Staff members that had interacted with this woman during her stay at the hotel (namely, during her check-in) reported learning very little about her; indicating that she had no discernible accent during her limited interactions with anyone there.

[Most people in Washington state have an accent like mine: which many perceive to be a "normal" American accent, but I've always thought was more specific to the west coast. That's just my own two cents, though, and not at all indicative of this case. Regardless, the people at the hotel didn't pick up on an accent from this woman, which makes me believe that she came from the region.]

It seems like this woman had gone through the effort of taking her own life as anonymously as possible. And whatever answers she may have provided to the authorities that found her and attempted to track down her next-of-kin... she took with her to the grave.

Early on, authorities believed this to be a rather simple case of suicide, as brash and uncouth as that is to say.

As recounted by the former-chief investigator for the King County Medical Examiner's Office, Jerry Webster, during one of the several interviews he gave about this case, he believed that this case would be pushed through his department in no more than twenty minutes, after making a couple of phone calls. However, that was not the case, as has been proven over the years, with Webster remarking to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2005:

"It didn't appear to be a complex case, or a difficult one. Then things started to go wrong."

Authorities attempted to identify the woman repeatedly over the years, submitting her fingerprints to state, federal, and international databases, through the FBI and Interpol. They then attempted to match her identity with missing person reports filed throughout North America; not only in the U.S. but also in Canada, matching up this woman to missing girls and women sought after by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

After comparing this woman to thousands of missing persons all over the western hemisphere, authorities were unable to find a match. The specificities of her case ruled out almost every other possibility. Whoever this woman was, she had left behind no breadcrumbs that could lead back to wherever she had called home. Despite her apparent links to New York City, authorities believed her home to be in the Seattle area, which is why she had likely chosen there to end her life.

Attempts were made to trace her belongings but were similarly unsuccessful. A search of the woman's room revealed a trove of personal possessions, but the woman had done a good job of removing any potential identifiers from each one. This list of items included:

- Two luggage bags (which had no tags)

- Black leggings and a black top (which she was wearing at her time of death)

- Six stretch velour outfits of various colors, which were found hanging up in the hotel closet

- Various shoes and slippers (woman's size 10)

- A cobalt blue Himalaya Outfitters jacket

- Black leather gloves (from Nordstrom)

- An olive-green leather purse, which contained $36.78 in cash (but no credit or debit cards, nor ID cards of any kind)

- Toothpaste and other toiletries

- High-end makeup (such as Estee Lauder cosmetics) and perfume

- Metamucil (which she had mixed with cyanide)

- Crystal Light drink mix

- Pantyhose

- A kitchen bowl

- An iron

Authorities would even note that before her death, this woman had gone through the extra step of removing a dental plate, which might have helped identify her remains. This dental plate - which indicated some significant prior dental work - was nowhere to be found at the scene.

Attempts would even be made to trace the cyanide that the woman had used to take her life, but these too were fruitless. The usage of cyanide - an incredibly tough substance to obtain for anyone not in the mining or jewelry businesses - confirmed that this woman was indeed looking to take her own life. Unlike some other suicide attempts, which may have been desperate pleas for help, the usage of cyanide indicated that this woman had thoroughly considered her options, and had gone through the effort of hiding her identity from authorities.

M. Arly, a member of the King County Medical Examiner's Office, later told reporters with the Associated Press:

"She did one of the most thorough jobs of obliterating her ID that I have ever seen in my career. She could have taught the FBI tricks."

Over the past 25 years, investigators, journalists, and websleuths alike have tried to dig into the details to figure out this mysterious woman's identity... but all have been left similarly empty-handed. This has resulted in a wide net of theories and rumors, none of which have proven to be the key needed to crack open this case.

One of the theories linked to this case is the belief that "Mary Anderson" had picked the hotel room she took her life in specifically for that purpose. While it is possible that she may have stayed at the Hotel Vintage Park before her suicide - and that it may have held some significance in her life - none of the hotel staff recognized her from prior stays. Also, it is worth noting that she did not pick Room 214; rather, she had called to make the reservation approximately 90 minutes before check-in and had been assigned the room randomly by the staff (simply because it was available). So it's not believed that the room held any personal or emotional significance for her.

Another widespread belief in this case is that "Mary Anderson" must have been a religious person... perhaps a member of a church or religious organization. After all, at the time of her death, she left a King James Bible open to a specific passage - Psalm 23 - and this was one of the few clues left behind at the scene. I believe that she might have been raised religious, but since she chose to end her own life - which is heavily frowned upon by Christianity - to me, this indicates that she was only somewhat religious. She was likely not dogmatic to the point of it ruling her life. Instead, she might have just turned to religion in a moment of need... her final moments alive.

Many in the online community believe that this woman might have worked for a scientific lab or a mining or jewelry company of some kind, which would explain how she was able to get her hands on cyanide. After all, the compound is pretty hard to track down since it is so heavily regulated, but involvement in or a connection to those fields would explain how she was able to obtain some. This is still a popular and credible theory in the case, despite investigators being unable to track down a link to any of these industries.

Other theories in this story vary between the unlikely to the improbable.

Some believe that this woman was murdered, killed by someone else and made to look like a suicide. There is little-to-no evidence of this, as no one was reported to go in or out of this woman's room during her two-day stay at the Seattle-based hotel. The crime scene was calm and organized, not messy and chaotic (as you'd expect from any murder scene). Needless to say, this is a theory that's posited in search of evidence to back it up, not the other way around.

Some believe that this woman might have been a spy of some kind, which would explain why her identity has been so hard to determine after all these years. Because she appeared to look vaguely eastern European, this theory seems to hold some water with internet commenters, but again, there exists little evidence to back it up (other than her thoroughly destroying any record of her identity, which seems almost impossible to do decades later). However, the woman's command of the English language and her lack of any noticeable accent seems to downplay that possibility.

Many liken this story to that of Jennifer Fairgate, the woman that killed herself in Oslo, Norway under similarly suspicious circumstances in 1995 (and whose story was featured on the Netflix reboot of 'Unsolved Mysteries'). Others compare this story to the suicide of Lyle Stevik, the man that killed himself in 2001, in a hotel in Amanda Park, Washington - not too far away from "Mary Anderson." However, unlike this woman, the identity of Lyle Stevik has been determined after so many years.

Despite writing in her suicide note that "I have no relations" (or "I have no relatives," based on the source), authorities believe that this isn't true. Because she also wrote that "No one is responsible for my death," it's believed that this mysterious woman may have been attempting to help someone else move on should they have learned about her taking her own life. Also, her ending the note with the post-script "You can use my body as you choose" might have been her attempt to prevent her loved ones from having to deal with the after-effect of her suicide. Her stripping her body of any identity may have played a significant part in that.

M. Arly, a member of the King County Medical Examiner's Office, told reporters with the Associated Press years ago:

"That's a clue that she did have someone, and she didn't want them to know."

Speaking to the Seattle P.I. in 2005, Jerry Webster, the former chief investigator for the King County M.E., recalled:

"I'm convinced she left us clues to who she was, and we missed them... The maple leaf might have been a clue."

Webster then recalls a copy of the Seattle Weekly, which was left sitting open on the hotel room desk, which had a pressed maple leaf set on the page. He and others believe that this might have been a clue left behind by the woman, signifying a connection to Canada... possibly her country of origin.

The body of the woman that called herself "Mary A. Anderson" was kept in the King County Medical Examiner's Office for more than eight months, until she was finally embalmed and buried in a pauper's section of Seattle's Crown Hill Cemetery, near the neighborhood of Ballard, in north Seattle. There, buried in June of 1997, she shares an unmarked grave with another person, and because of the circumstances of her death, is listed as a Jane Doe.

Seattle University psychology professor Steven Halling - as reported by journalist Todd Matthews - noted:

"The one thing that is most profoundly associated with suicide is hopelessness. The ritual of her death is probably not too different from how she lived her life. She is very careful, methodical. She goes to great lengths to hide how she dies, but none of us, no matter what we do, can disappear without a trace."

However, as noted by Matthews in his amazing article, "Something About Mary," this mysterious woman managed to do just that. Nearly a quarter-century has passed since "Mary Anderson" took her own life, and authorities are still unaware who this woman was or why she made the ultimate, final decision of her life.

In May of 2021, it was announced that the King County Medical Examiner's Office had teamed up with Othram Inc. to identify this woman after more than 25 years. This collaboration hopes to use advanced DNA testing and forensic genealogy to establish her identity, or at the very least, find her closest living relatives.

Coincidentally, this announcement was made as I was starting research for this episode, and you can help with this crowdfunding effort by checking out the link in the show notes for the DNASolves website. I put up $100 just a few days ago, and if this story moves you as it did me, I encourage you to pitch in a few bucks to help raise awareness in any way you can, if at all possible.

Only time will tell whether or not this collaboration will find success, but I certainly hope so... if only to bring answers to anyone in this woman's life that might be left wondering what happened to her.

Until such a time, the story of "Mary Anderson" will remain unresolved.

Episode Information

Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan

Published on on May 16th, 2021

Producers: Producers: Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Gabriella Bromley, Steven Wilson, Quil Carter, Travis Scsepko, Laura Hannan, Bryan Hall, Damion Moore, Scott Meesey, Amy Hampton, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Astrid Kneier, Aimee McGregor, Jo Wong, Sara Moscaritolo, Sydney Scotton, Thomas Ahearn, Marion Welsh, Patrick Laakso, Rebecca O'Sullivan, Meadow Landry, Tatum Bautista, Sally Ranford, Kevin McCracken, Ruth Durbin, Michele Watson, Jared Midwood, Teunia Elzinga, Ryan Green, Jacinda C., Stephanie Joyner, Cherish Brady, and Lauren

Thanks to Bethany from the podcast Milk and Murder for contributing some audio for this episode. Learn more about her podcast at https://milkandmurder.com/

Also thanks to my friend and podcasting compatriot Jesse Pollack for introducing me to this story. If you haven't already, make sure to check out his books (The Acid King & Death on the Devil's Teeth), his documentary (The Acid King), and his podcasts (True Crime Movie Club, Podcast 1289, and Devil's Teeth).