The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office has identified a handyman who was working for 82-year-old Marcia Norman at the time she went missing as a person of interest in her disappearance.
Norman was reported missing by family on April 4, with family noting that they had not heard from Norman since April 1 and both of her vehicles were parked at her residence near McIntosh Lake, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
“Deputies responded to the home and discovered suspicious circumstances surrounding her disappearance,” the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Tuesday, noting that “the condition of the home suggested Marcia may have left abruptly — household tasks such as dishes appeared to have been left mid-process.”
Detectives soon began a formal investigation, during which they reportedly learned that Norman had dinner the evening of April 1 with her handyman, identified as Jeffrey Kian Zizz, 47.
“He is believed to have been the last person to have seen her,” the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Detectives reportedly spoke with Zizz “multiple times and seized items of interest” during their investigation, but “at this time, there is not probable cause for an arrest related to Marcia’s disappearance,” the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office stated in a release.
On Sunday, April 6, Zizz reportedly left the area using a friend’s vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.
“He was ultimately located and arrested in Missoula, Montana, on a recently entered, unrelated warrant,” the sheriff’s office stated in a news release.
Thurston County Superior Court issued a bench warrant Tuesday for Zizz’s arrest on an October 2021 case where he was convicted on two counts of second-degree child molestation and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes, according to court documents.
Reporting by The Olympian at the time states that Zizz, a military veteran and former pastor at a Lacey church, turned himself in to Lacey Police on Oct. 21, 2021, and vaguely confessed to “sexual misconduct” in his home.
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 on Tuesday, prompting the court to issue a bench warrant.
Zizz was arrested and booked into the Missoula County Jail as a fugitive from justice at approximately 1:11 a.m. General Mountain Time on Tuesday, according to jail records.
Zizz’s vehicle has since been seized by investigators, who are asking anyone who has had recent contact with Zizz or who has information that could help them solve the case to contact the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office Detective’s Division at detectives@co.thurston.wa.us or 360-786-5530.
