Documents released by Thurston County Superior Court on Monday detail the alleged kidnapping and murder of 82-year-old Tenino area resident Marcia Norman.
Jeffrey Kian Zizz, 47, was charged Monday, April 21, in Lewis County Superior Court with one count each of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, unlawful disposal of human remains for his alleged involvement in her disappearance and death.
Norman’s remains were discovered partially encased in concrete under a shed on property owned by Zizz on April 8.
The Thurston County Coroner’s Office has since determined that Norman’s cause of death was “blunt force trauma as well as penetrating injuries to her head,” according to court documents.
Marcia Norman’s family discovers she is missing
Norman was reported missing from her McIntosh Lake-area residence near Tenino by family on April 4.
“Family members went to the residence on April 4 to check on (Norman) after several friends notified the family that she had missed several obligations that she routinely attended,” the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office states in an affidavit of probable cause filed in Thurston County Superior Court on Monday.
Family members reportedly did not find Norman inside the residence, but did find her wallet and her vehicles, and discovered that her medications had not been taken since April 1.
At the time, Norman’s family, which includes her husband, four children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, said they had not heard from Norman since April 1.
Family members were reportedly able to gain access to Norman’s Apple ID and “saw text messages with her ‘handyman,’” who they identified as Zizz, and saw that the two planned to have dinner at Norman’s house on April 1.
The last person to speak with Norman before her dinner with Zizz was her son, who spoke to her at about 6 p.m. on April 1, according to court documents.
“He advised deputies that she had never gone missing in the past, that she is very coherent, and that she always keeps her phone with her,” the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office stated in the affidavit of probable cause.
In a statement to Thurston County Superior Court during Zizz’s preliminary hearing on Monday, April 21, Norman’s eldest grandchild, Ally Bates, spoke about Norman’s life and the plans that she had for the future.
“She was living out her retirement years with gusto. She and my grandpa traveled all over the world, and would often pop in on different car shows. She had her bridge club weekly, had a regular pedicure date with her neighbor, and drove north to go to lunch with my daughter and I at least once a month,” Bates said.
At the time of her disappearance, Norman was actively shopping for a new car, preparing for hip surgery and considering buying a condo in Hawaii, Bates added.
This summer, Bates said, Norman had a cross country road trip planned with her son and had plans to teach several of her grandchildren to sew.
“We are just a few names on the list of people she invested her time and talents into,” Bates said. “Marcia was a woman who was vibrant, full of life and full of plans for the future, and she impacted more people than we even knew.”
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into Norman’s disappearance on April 4 after her family discovered the suspicious state of her home.
At the time, Norman’s family had already confirmed that Norman had not been hospitalized and confirmed that there had been no phone activity on her Apple ID since April 2.
An emergency ping of Norman’s phone that occurred at 1:36 a.m. on April 2 revealed its last known location was within a four-mile radius of her home, according to court documents.
“Due to the circumstances around (Norman’s) disappearance, detectives believed there was an obvious immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury to her,” the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office stated in the affidavit of probable cause.
Jeffrey Zizz identified as a person of interest
Detectives quickly identified Zizz as a person of interest, according to court documents and previous Chronicle reporting.
During the investigation, detectives reportedly learned of an incident that Norman had disclosed to her son about Zizz entering her home while she was asleep several months prior.
She reportedly told her son that “she was startled by Zizz in the middle of the night when she was sleeping and awoke to him standing at the foot of her bed,” the Thurston County Prosecutor’s office states in the affidavit of probable cause.
At the time, Norman reportedly told Zizz “that it was inappropriate for him to be there and that he needed to leave,” the prosecutor’s office stated in the affidavit.
Norman reportedly told her son that she spoke to Zizz later “and made it clear to him that they were to keep a professional relationship and he was not to cross those boundaries again,” according to court documents.
The incident was not reported to law enforcement until Norman’s disappearance.
When questioned about that incident, Zizz allegedly admitted that he went into Norman’s room and “while she was sleeping, he rubbed her shoulder, wanting to speak with her,” according to court documents.
He confirmed that Norman told him to leave. He then allegedly told detectives “that he did have thoughts about (Norman) romantically,” according to court documents.
A Thurston County Sheriff’s Office deputy who went to Zizz’s residence in Thurston County reportedly saw a red 2023 Ford F-350 registered to Zizz parked on the street.
Flock Safety cameras reportedly captured images of the F-350 going southbound at the intersection of Lilly Road and Martin Way East in Olympia at 3:04 a.m. on April 2 and at 7:03 a.m. on April 2.
Both images reportedly show a large round garbage can with a black garbage bag liner in the bed of the pickup, according to court documents.
When contacted by detectives, Zizz reportedly advised that he had heard from one of Norman’s family members that she was missing.
He reportedly said he had known Norman for over a year due to his job as a handyman and said she allowed him to use a portion of her detached shop to work on projects and store equipment, according to court documents.
Zizz allegedly confirmed that he had plans to have dinner with Norman on April 1. According to Zizz, Norman texted him to come from the shop to the house for dinner at 5:30 p.m. on April 1. He said “they had street tacos and (Norman) drank some wine” before Zizz left the house at about 8:30 p.m. He reported that he got home at 9 p.m. and did not leave until he went to work the next morning.
When advised of the Flock footage after he allegedly denied that anyone else had access to his truck, Zizz allegedly “admitted that he lied and said he did return to (Norman’s) residence twice that night after he left following dinner,” according to court documents.
Zizz told detectives that he went to the shop at about midnight on April 2 to collect tools for a job the next day, went home and slept for a few hours, then returned to the shop at about 3 a.m. to pick up a trailer parked outside the shop. That morning, he reported that he took his trailer to a storage unit, then went to a home improvement store and an equipment rental store.
Location mapping of Zizz’s phone reportedly shows that he left his residence at about 3:32 p.m. on April 1 and arrived at Norman’s residence at about 4 p.m., staying until approximately 8:32 p.m. and arriving home at approximately 9:07 p.m.
It reportedly showed that Zizz was home until 6:10 a.m. on April 2, when he went to his storage unit, a home improvement store and an equipment rental store.
“Notably, there was no location history that showed him going back to (Norman’s) residence on two occasions or showed him near the intersection of Martin Way E and Lilly Road around 3 a.m. where the Flock camera showed his truck,” the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office states in the affidavit of probable cause.
“When asked about this, Zizz … said he must have left his phone at home when he went back to (Norman’s residence) those two times.”
Ring cameras at Zizz’s residence, which Zizz’s roommate gave detectives access to, reportedly shows Zizz arriving home at 9:08 p.m. on April 1 and “didn’t show any activity again” until 5:46 a.m. on April 2, when Zizz left for the morning.
Zizz reportedly told detectives he used the front door each time he left the residence and said he did not know why the Ring camera would not have captured his two trips out of the house during the night.
During an exterior search of Zizz’s residence, detectives reportedly “looked at the exterior of Zizz’s bedroom window and noticed that the window screen frame was bent as if it had been damaged being removed at some point,” according to court documents.
Detectives noted that “Zizz continued to deny any involvement in (Norman’s) disappearance.
Detectives later obtained a search warrant for the interior of Zizz’s residence, where they found a five-page typed letter that “appeared to be a meticulously planned out burglary/sexual assault of an adult woman, identified as a ‘customer,’” according to court documents.
Zizz leaves Washington state, is arrested
At approximately 11:27 a.m. on April 7, three days after Norman was discovered missing and the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office began its investigation, Zizz’s roommate notified detectives that Zizz had borrowed his truck the day prior and never returned home.
“The roommate stated he attempted to report the truck stolen and indicated he was concerned about Zizz and afraid of him harming himself,” the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office stated in the affidavit.
Later that day, detectives were contacted by the Idaho State Police, who reported that they located the roommate’s stolen truck “in a very rural area of Highway 12 between Kooskia, Idaho, and Missoula, Montana,” according to court documents.
The Idaho State Trooper who contacted Thurston County Sheriff’s Office detectives reported that the truck “had front end damage and appeared to have struck an elk and become disabled.” The trooper noted he arrived several hours after the collision was initially reported and that Zizz was not with the vehicle at that time.
Also on April 7, Thurston County Superior Court issued a bench warrant for Zizz’s arrest for violating the conditions of release issued in an unrelated October 2021 case by leaving Washington state.
In that case, Zizz was charged Oct. 22, 2021, in Thurston County Superior Court with nine non-specific child sexual assault charges and pleaded guilty to three charges on Aug. 30, 2022, according to court records.
He was granted a special sex offender sentencing alternative and was sentenced Oct. 10, 2022, to 11 months in jail followed by six years in partial confinement, according to court documents.
A petition to terminate or modify Zizz’s special sex offender sentencing alternative was filed in Thurston County Superior Court, prompting the court to issue a bench warrant.
Zizz was arrested and booked into the Missoula County Jail as a fugitive from justice, according to jail records.
He was extradited back to the Thurston County Jail on April 13 and has been in custody on a no-bail hold for his 2021 case since.
Detectives find Norman’s remains
Meanwhile, detectives were following up on statements Zizz made during his interview with detectives at his residence — specifically his claim that he had rented an excavator to tear down an old shed and build a new one at an Olympia residence on April 2.
Surveillance video footage reportedly confirmed that Zizz rented an excavator from a local company at 7:50 a.m. on April 2. A GPS tracker on the excavator reportedly shows that Zizz took the excavator directly to the jobsite and returned it at about 12:36 p.m. that same day.
“The GPS tracker on the excavator did not show it stopped anywhere else for any length of time that would indicate it was used at any other location before it was returned,” the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office stated in the affidavit.
Detectives contacted the owner of the job site location on April 6. The owner reported that she was a friend of Norman and said Norman had recommended Zizz to her when they discussed her need for a new shed.
Zizz reportedly began work on Wednesday, April 2, and continued working daily through Saturday, April 5. He reportedly worked alone and did not have a crew with him.
Detectives executed a search warrant on Zizz’s F-350 on April 8, with K9s trained in detection of human decomposition alerting to the odor of human composition in the bed of the vehicle at about 3 p.m., according to court documents.
The K9 was then taken to the job site to conduct sniffs around the shed that Zizz built.
“Two of the handlers advised detectives that their K9s had alerted to the odor of human decomposition around the base of the shed and inside the shed,” the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office stated in the affidavit.
Law enforcement personnel excavated the shed the next day, April 9, and located human remains partially encased in concrete in the ground under the shed.
An autopsy conducted by the Thurston County Coroner’s Office on April 10 confirmed that the remains belonged to Norman.
During the autopsy, coroner staff reportedly “discovered that wrapped around (Norman’s) wrists and ankles were long black Velcro straps, as well as evidence that she had been bound prior to her death,” the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office stated in the affidavit.
Charges filed in Thurston County Superior Court
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, in a coordinated effort with the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office, officially booked Zizz on charges related to Norman’s death — including first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and unlawful disposal of human remains — Sunday, April 20, according to a news release and Thurston County Jail records.
The charges were formally filed in Thurston County Superior Court on Monday, April 21.
First-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping are each classified as class A felonies, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. Unlawful disposal of human remains is a misdemeanor.
Zizz had a preliminary hearing on the charges at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, during which Judge Mary Sue Wilson granted the prosecution’s request to hold Zizz without bail on this case.
State law allows the court to hold a defendant without bail if they are facing class A felony charges and if there is “clear and convincing evidence of a propensity for violence that creates a substantial likelihood of danger to the community,” Wilson said.
“The allegations here are among the most serious and troubling in terms of the prepared plan in advance and then the execution,” Wilson said Monday, finding that there was just cause for a no-bail hold.
During her argument in favor of a no-bail hold, Deputy Prosecutor Rosemary Fitzgerald called the allegations against Zizz “shocking, both in their nature and the alleged victim of an 82-year-old woman, a member of this community, who the defendant, over a two-year period, befriended and knew lived alone.”
Fitzgerald said that Zizz “has demonstrated a pattern of targeting particularly vulnerable females” and argued that there is no monetary bail amount or mechanism available to the court to ensure that the defendant will not commit a future crime of violence, and that he has demonstrated that he is a flight risk and has shown a propensity for violence.
Norman’s granddaughter, Ally Bates, also spoke Monday in favor of denying Zizz bail.
“Marcia was so much more than just an 82-year-old Tenino woman, she was a very real person who was both particularly loved by her family and her community, and we believe that the accused presents a very real danger and threat to that same community,” Bates said. “He’s already demonstrated that he’s a flight risk, and we ask that you reflect on the gruesome nature and tragedy of this case and refuse bail at this time.”
Arguing in favor of allowing Zizz the opportunity to be released on bail, defense attorney Eli Duncan said, “Nothing has been proven in court. These are allegations against him. I understand the court’s concern that he might be a flight risk, and the court’s concern about these allegations — they are serious, and he understands that — however, I would ask the court to consider setting some sort of bond in this case.”
Under Wilson’s ruling to deny Zizz bail in this case, he will remain in custody at the Thurston County Jail until the case is resolved.
Zizz does have the right to request a review of Wilson’s bail decision if new information comes to light that Zizz’s attorney believes will change the court’s mind about bail.
Wilson also entered separate orders prohibiting him from having firearms or dangerous weapons and prohibiting him from having any contact with Norman’s family.
Arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 6.
