On the outside, the dark brown cabin looked exactly like the replica gingerbread house described in the rumours; straight out of a fairly-tale.
It had a front door, glass windows and a pitched roof. A porch ran all the way around it and the house was accessed by a ladder.
But the adorable exterior belied the horrors inside: among the food, bedding, candles and knick-knacks was a cache of child pornography, including framed photographs of naked young girls mounted on the walls.
The shocked DNR employee placed a couple of the images in his bag and hiked back to get the police, kickstarting a month-long joint investigation with the FBI that would lead to the arrest of 56-year-old Daniel M. Wood.
According to documents tendered to King County Superior Court, agents watched Wood at his home in Mill Creek for a month before finding enough evidence to link him to the treehouse.
A search and rescue volunteer who knew the area well told investigators that he had come across the cabin several times and that he'd seen a Toyota FJ Cruiser parked nearby.
He had written down the license plate number and investigators tracked the vehicle to Wood's house, according to the Seattle Times.
Court documents say investigators gathered DNA evidence from a motorcycle parked outside Wood's house and from a cup they saw him drinking from, and matched it to DNA found inside the treehouse.
A search of Wood's home allegedly uncovered an SD card that "contained thousands of images of child erotica and child pornography".
Among the images on the card were photos of two young nude girls inside the treehouse, investigators said.
It's not clear if Wood or someone else built the illegal cabin, according to the court documents.
Wood is now facing a raft of child pornography charges but remains free on bail.
According to the Seattle Times, a summons was issued for Wood to front court on March 26,. He has been ordered not to have any contact with minors in the meantime.
