Further:

Devon Leger has just emailed the following:
"Dear Family and Friends of Northwest Folklife and Seattle Folklore Society,

            We are very sorry to give you the sad news that our friend, John Ross, has passed away. We heard about this today from the police and it comes as a shock to us all. We do not know much about his passing yet, but we have been told that he died of apparent natural causes at his house. We are sorry to send this information to you over email, but we hope that you will be able to forward this email on to other friends and colleagues of John Ross so that they may be informed of his passing.

            At this point, the investigators are asking for information on John's family. We know that his parents passed away some years ago and that he was an only child, but we do not know if he has any living relatives. Investigator Monty Nelson has asked anyone who knows about John's family history to call him with this information. His phone number is 206-731-3232. If you push the number 1 after calling, you can skip the automated machine and go straight to his number. Monty would appreciate any information you have about John Ross' family or anything to help the police contact next of kin.

            It is clear that John Ross drew his family and friends from the Seattle folk music scene. It is up to us to celebrate his life and to help in his passing. It is our hope that those who are interested could organize a service or remembrance of some kind in his name prior to the Northwest Folklife Festival. We're thinking of ways to remember him at Folklife as well.

Thank you, Devon Leger"

- forwarded by Jon Bartlett