Todd Duane Mertes was a man who was discovered near Tonopah, Arizona on February 12, 1988. His remains were identified in 2012. Although he was not charged, it is believed that a man named Michael Alan Root was responsible for his murder.
Biography[]
Todd Mertes was born in 1961. Growing up, he was raised by his working mother and with his sister, Toinette, in Marysville, Washington. After dropping out of high school, Todd went to work in construction. He was described by those who knew him as a prankster and the life of the party, but he was emotionally fragile.
After several failed relationships, Todd suffered a mental breakdown and was introduced to the business of selling cocaine by a childhood friend. He took off with this friend. His family was not kept up to date on his whereabouts, but he is presumably believed to have gone to California, where he may have been involved with the Mexican Mafia.
Toinette last heard from her brother in September 1986. He called her from a Phoenix number and stated he was partying with a girl at a casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, only to wake up to find she was gone with his drugs and $5000, which did not belong to him. Todd stated that he was hiding out with acquaintances but would not say who they were. He only gave her the number he was calling from and stated he would fly into Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, Washington, and eventually make his way back home.
When Toinette did not hear back from him, she called the number, and a woman answered. When Toinette asked for her brother, the woman muffled the phone and said, "Somebody's asking for Todd." A male voice answered, "Hang up the phone! Hang up!"
Case[]
In January 1987, the Phoenix Police Department received a tip from a woman named Carol Root. She stated her husband, Michael Alan Root, killed a man only known as "Mike" at their home at North 35th Avenue and West Palm Lane in Phoenix.
On February 12, 1988, the burned skeletal remains of a man were discovered near Interstate 10 and 339th Avenue in the desert by a hiker. He was stabbed to death. Police assumed the unknown man was "Mike" based on the evidence.
Michael Root eventually fled to Michigan, where he was convicted of the 1987 murder of an elderly couple. Detectives interrogated Root, but he never confessed and was not prosecuted for the murder. He died in prison in 2008.
Before he was identified, "Mike" was used as a teaching tool for anthropology students. In 2010, Arizona detectives extracted his DNA, which was loaded into the CODIS database. That same year, Snohomish County Sheriff's Office cold case detective Jim Scharf learned that a missing person report for Todd was not filed in any of the cold case databases. After a report was filed and DNA was collected from Toinette and his parents, the sample was uploaded into the database.
In 2012, "Mike" was identified as Todd Mertes. He is buried at the Machias Community Cemetery in Machias, Washington.