First week of testimony wraps in Whatcom County murder trial over 2021 killing
Two teenage boys were the first to spot Thomas Flood’s body.
They were on a family trip from Burlington to the Semiahmoo Spit, their father testified last week in Whatcom County Superior Court, and they were staying at the resort nearby. The boys were out riding their bikes when they spotted something strange on the side of the beach access trail, and they called their father over.
He said he saw what first appeared to be a pile of debris: a sleeping bag, foam mattress pad and blanket all piled together. Then he noticed the feet sticking out.
Photos of the bedding piled over the body of the man later identified as Flood were shown repeatedly throughout the first week of the trial of his alleged killer, 67-year-old Lynda Clare Mercy. Fourteen people have testified so far.
Police officers testify
Retired Blaine Police Department Officer John Landis was the first to respond to the 911 call on April 7, 2021. He told the jury that he lifted one of Flood’s bare feet and found it stiff and cold. He said he then photographed the scene and began to remove the layers of bedding covering the body.
His photos, which were projected in the courtroom, showed Flood face down and wrapped in a gray quilt with towels over his head. Both were soaked in what appeared to be blood. Landis said he then noticed two small holes in Flood’s shirt and realized he had a homicide investigation on his hands. He called the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office for backup.
A medical examiner was also called to examine the body. He determined that the cause of death was two gunshot wounds and officially ruled the death a homicide.
WCSO Sgt. Kenneth Gates said he was the next officer on the scene, and it looked to him like Flood’s body was “placed there.” He was also the one to identify the individual as Flood after finding a pay stub with his name on it in a cardboard box near his body.
Gates learned that Flood was a resident of Island County who worked as a carpenter and owned and lived in a white van that, according to Flood’s friend. The friend said Flood often parked near the Coupeville ferry terminal at night.
The friend also gave officers Flood’s phone number. They were able to track the phone to Fairhaven, and found the van parked outside a church beside two other similar white vans at about 4:45 a.m. April 8, 2021. When they called the phone number, a screen lit up inside the vehicle.
Searching the van
The van was taken into evidence, and officers secured a warrant to search it. WCSO Deputy Keith Brown testified that inside he found what looked like blood on the van’s plywood flooring, a sweatshirt and a shop vacuum. There was also a surfboard in the van that was reported stolen by a park ranger who lived near the ferry terminal, though there was no evidence that Flood was a surfer.
Brown said he noticed a cigarette butt in an ashtray between the front seats of the van. He said it seemed like it was the last cigarette smoked in the vehicle, and thought it should be tested. He noted that the brand was an American Spirit, and trash in the car indicated that Flood smoked Camels.
Brown also saw hair fibers on the driver’s seat cover. Some appeared to belong to Flood, while others looked to him like white cat hair. He said he saw that same suspected cat hair when he later served a search warrant on Mercy’s apartment.
Mercy was identified as a suspect from surveillance footage, and Brown said police found a “number of items of evidentiary value” in her residence. These included the clothing she was seen wearing in the footage and blue paper towels, which were also found in Flood’s van.
Mercy also appeared on surveillance footage at the Coupeville ferry terminal on April 6, 2021, the day before Flood’s body was found.
A Washington State Ferries employee testified that he saw a woman dancing near the ferry ticket booth and later sitting on a fence at the terminal. Someone — whom he believes was the same woman — was later spotted inside his coworker’s car that night, claiming they were “only trying to stay warm.” The person then walked off.
The ferry terminal connects Coupeville and Port Townsend, where Mercy told friends she was going on a trip to visit. One friend saw her after she returned, though they didn’t spend much time discussing the trip itself.
The friend said Mercy gave them a box with multiple items, including a handgun and ammunition. The friend said Mercy stated at the time that she was “uncomfortable” with the gun and no longer wanted it. The friend later turned the box over to police as evidence.
Mercy’s trial will resume Monday in Whatcom County Superior Court.
This story was originally published January 31, 2026 at 5:15 AM.