MALTBY — Detectives believe Wesley Mangulabnan wrote a note, describing how his children should divvy up his and his wife’s personal possessions.
The note is evidence that Mangulabnan planned the deadly attack on his wife, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Toni Montgomery said Monday.
“From the tone of his letter, presumably his wife wouldn’t be around,” she said.
Mangulabnan, 48, was booked into the county jail Saturday after being released from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he had been receiving treatment for self-inflicted cuts to his neck and wrist.
He made a brief appearance in Everett District Court Monday. Mangulabnan’s voice was raspy and he wore a bandage at the base of his throat.
His defense attorney argued against preliminary allegations that Mangulabnan committed first-degree murder. There isn’t sufficient evidence of premeditation, she said.
Montgomery detailed Gina Mangulabnan’s multiple injuries, including a 7-inch cut to her throat. The couple had been fighting and the victim was screaming for help, she said. The deputy prosecutor added that police found a note written to the couple’s son with instructions about what to do with several possessions.
Judge Anthony Howard found probable cause to support the first-degree murder booking. He set bail at $1 million.
The couple lived with their two children in an apartment on Maltby Road. Gina Mangulabnan’s mother also shared the apartment with them. Detectives spoke with her and the Mangulabnans’ daughter after the Dec. 4 attack. The couple’s son lives with autism and does not communicate verbally.
In the last six months, Gina Mangulabnan, 48, started talking about divorcing her husband, court papers said.
That afternoon Gina Mangulabnan’s mother said she heard yelling and screaming coming from the couple’s bedroom. She and her grandson tried to open the door but it was locked. The couple’s son forced open the bedroom door.
The Mangulabnans were lying on the bathroom floor. Their son removed the box cutter from his father’s hand, court papers said. Police were told that Gina Mangulabnan was able to talk briefly and said her husband attacked her. She also reportedly said, “I think I’m going to die. I can’t breathe.”
She died two days later.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley
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