Body found at home of Mike Webb

Seattle police are investigating "badly decomposed" human remains found Thursday at the Queen Anne home of former radio talk show host Mike Webb.

Webb, 52, was last seen April 13, according to a missing-person report filed in May. His 10-year stint as a late-night talk show host came to an end in December 2005 when he was fired by KIRO-AM/710 after being charged with insurance fraud.

Seattle police crime scene investigators and homicide detectives were combing the house Webb had rented for 14 years in the 2500 block of Third Avenue West.

Assistant Chief Nick Metz, head of the department's investigations division, said a property manager discovered the body Thursday afternoon.

Calling the remains "badly decomposed," Metz said investigators had yet to determine the gender, age or the cause of death.

"We are treating this death as suspicious," Metz said.

Investigators were trying to determine whether the body had been moved to the house, Metz said. Several people -- including missing-person investigators and Webb's family -- had been to the house in the months since the liberal radio host vanished.

Officers last examined the home within the past two weeks, police spokesman Jeff Kappel said. It was unclear whether officers entered the home at that time.

Metz declined to divulge details about where the body was found. But he did say that, when those details are publicized, the reasons why the body was not located earlier will be clear.

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