Homeless man dies in a Pasco jail. Investigators still not sure why

The coroner’s office is still trying to determine why a Franklin County jail inmate died this week.

Harry Wilkerson, 63, of Pasco, was found on his bunk in his cell about 9:30 a.m. Monday. Sheriff Jim Raymond said were no signs he’d been attacked.

Coroner Dan Blasdel said he must wait until lab tests are finished. The autopsy was this week but the results could take several weeks to return.

The Tri-City Special Investigations Unit is still investigating, Raymond said, and he expects it will be some time before they know what happened.

Wilkerson had been in jail three nights after being picked up by Pasco police for trying to break into the Court Street Laundry Mat.

Pasco Sgt. Scott Warren said he wasn’t complaining of any medical problems.

Wilkerson’s niece Mary Jo Fuentes told the Herald he was a great guy who spent most of his life working in the auto body industry. She admitted that some family members had distance themselves in recent years over some of his poor choices.

Wilkerson had been homeless since April, said his friend Kammie Robinson. She knew him for about three years because he lived down the street from her in Richland.

He stayed at the Thunderbird Motel in Pasco for about five months before he ended up homeless, she said.

She described him as a kind man, who often shared food and his room with friends and strangers alike.

Robinson said he often gave her a ride to see her children and fed her.

“If I had nowhere to go ... he never put me out,” she said. “He bought a friend brand new shoes cause the friend had holes in them.”

When he was booked on an investigation of second-degree burglary it was the first time he had been arrested in more than 13 years.

The last time he was picked up by police was in 2004 in connection with a misdemeanor assault two years earlier, according to Washington State Patrol records.

He told jail officials he had been staying at the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission, but mission officials said they hadn’t seen him there for several years.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 6:54 PM with the headline "Homeless man dies in a Pasco jail. Investigators still not sure why."