PORT ANGELES — A 45-year-old woman is a suspect in the late-March beating death of Native American master carver George C. David of Neah Bay, whose body was found a month ago at the apartment of an acquaintance, interim Police Chief Brian Smith said Monday.

Tina Marie Alcorn, described by police as a transient who has lived in Arkansas, was in the Clallam County jail without bond Monday on an Arkansas Board of Parole abscond warrant for allegedly violating her conditional release.

Smith said she will remain in jail pending extradition to Arkansas.

Alcorn can be transported back to Clallam County if a charge related to David’s death is filed against her.

The investigation into David’s death is ongoing and when a charging decision might be made was not known Monday.

“It’s not an issue for us if someone is removed to another jurisdiction as long as they remain in custody,” Smith said.

Connection in PA

Dina Tyler, a spokeswoman with Arkansas Department of Community Correction, said Alcorn has a relative who lives in Port Angeles.

Alcorn was booked into the Clallam County jail April 19 and appeared Wednesday and Thursday in Superior Court, Smith said.

Jail Superintendent Ron Sukert said Alcorn is known to Clallam County law enforcement.

“I know who she is when I see her because of her relationship to the jail,” he said Monday.

David, a Port Alberni, B.C., native whose daughter, Maria David, lives in Neah Bay, traveled by bus March 25 from Neah Bay to Port Angeles.

His nephew, Makah tribal member Wade Greene of Neah Bay, said in an earlier interview that his uncle had planned to leave for Victoria on March 26 to visit family and attend a March 30 funeral.

David’s body was found March 28 in an apartment in the 1100 block of East Columbia Street.

He died of blunt-force trauma to the head, according to an autopsy.

David’s death was initially reported to 9-1-1 as a suicide by the person who found his body.

Police would not release information Monday on how David might have known Alcorn, where David went while he was in Port Angeles before he died and if they had found a weapon connected to David’s death.

First Nations

David was a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations based in Tofino, B.C.

He carved poles, rattles, paddles, headdresses and large face masks.

Sgt. Jason Viada said Monday that the Police Department released Alcorn’s name as a suspect in David’s homicide to let the public know that “we don’t have a murderer on the loose” and to request assistance from the public in the ongoing investigation.

Alcorn was on parole for a theft-of-property conviction when she stopped reporting and left Arkansas without permission, Miranda Mercer, of Arkansas Community Correction, said Monday.

Tyler said Alcorn served three years on the theft charge in Miller County, Ark.

The Arkansas Board of Parole issued a felony warrant for Alcorn’s arrest March 31.

Port Angeles police wanted to question her about David’s death when they learned she was in the Mount Vernon area, according to the case report.

She was arrested while sitting at a bus stop on Riverside Drive in Mount Vernon.

Anyone with information about David’s death should contact Detective Sgt. Tyler Peninger at 360-417-4957 and other detectives at 360-417-4919 or 360-417-4953.

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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.