Crime & Safety

Updated: Gig Harbor Man Accused of Kidnapping, Harassment Found Dead

Nick Uraga, who was facing charges for kidnapping and felony harassment, was found dead in his home Thursday night.

found the body of former Tacoma physician and accused kidnapper Nick Uraga in his Gig Harbor home late Thursday night.

Authorities said his death appears to be suicide. His body was turned over to the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office to determine an official cause of death. 

Police officers had searched the home in the 3400 block of 9th Avenue Court NW hours after Uraga failed to appear in Pierce County Superior Court on Thursday morning, June 30. 

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The 63-year-old had been facing first-degree kidnapping and felony harassment charges stemming from an altercation with his estranged wife of 22 years. Uraga had been arrested at on May 22, 2010 after he allegedly threatened to kill her with a handgun.

According to court documents, the two were dining at the restaurant when Nick Uraga revealed a .38-caliber Sig Sauer pistol from inside his coat. He refused to let the wife leave and threatened to kill her if she did not move back in with him. The restaurant manager called 911 after the wife, who was not physically harmed during the incident, managed to slip a note to a server.

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Uraga’s license to practice medicine in Washington was suspended following his arrest and until the charges were resolved, according to a July 2010 release on the Department of Health’s website. His trial was due to begin Thursday morning, but was adjourned after he failed to appear.

Uraga and his wife gained some notoriety in south Puget Sound in the late 1990s over the building of their dream home in Tacoma. Neighbors sued, claiming the house violated homeowner association rules on height. According to news reports, the court ordered the couple to tear down the 3,600-square foot, $500,000 home in 2000. It was subsequently moved to southwest Gig Harbor.

But it is unknown whether this was the same house that Ugara died in.

Pierce County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Timothy Lewis said the case will be dismissed once Uraga's death certificate is issued from the medical examiner's office.


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