SNOHOMISH — A man suspected of stabbing his parents and then lighting their home on fire late Thursday left dark posts on social media in the hours before the attack.
The man, 29, has a LinkedIn page that included the phrase “Burn in hell” below his name and a photo. On Facebook, Thursday morning he apparently wrote that “entertainment outside of nature and love is the work of the devil.”
His mother, 58, was still unaccounted for Friday. A woman’s body was found inside the burned home, said Shari Ireton, a spokeswoman with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
The man and his father, also 58, were initially taken to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. Both were moved to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. They were listed in satisfactory condition by Friday afternoon.
Detectives with the major crimes team on Friday were gathering evidence, trying to make sense of what happened at the home. They were unable to enter the house until mid-morning because it was unsafe due to fire damage.
“It probably will take days to collect the evidence,” Ireton said.
The home is in the 2500 block of 153rd Avenue SE. Snohomish County Fire District 8 in Lake Stevens was called to the scene around 11:15 p.m. and received mutual aid, including from Snohomish. The home is near the border of the two fire districts.
The Snohomish County Fire Marshal’s Office also was on the scene trying to reconstruct the fire.
The 911 call apparently was made from the home. There did not appear to be any previous calls for law enforcement to the home during the past two months, Ireton said.
Identification of the body found Friday as well as the cause and manner of death will be determined by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner.
The missing woman was known to love dogs and had been involved in breeding prize-winning golden retrievers, according to social media accounts.
The husband is a Boeing engineer and was a member of an aerospace and engineering advisory board at the University of Minnesota. He also has been a leader at the Grace Lutheran Church in Everett.
The couple graduated from high school in Wisconsin. They were married for 26 years, according to a church newsletter. Church leaders could not be reached for comment Friday.
Their eldest son, the suspect, was the subject of an anti-harassment complaint filed in King County on Thursday. He is a 2004 graduate of Snohomish High School, according to school district records.
On Jan. 11, he apparently wrote on Facebook, “I’m going to have to murder the sun to fix this.”
On Thursday morning, there was this post: “Language itself appears to be the devil. If I stop talking, that’s why. If ‘miracles’ start happening but you aren’t moved to tears by either laughter or love, then it’s not a miracle at all. Your manifestation power on the planet is not a quality indicator of your spiritual wholesomeness. The truth is, that miracles are subtle and still. They do not flash.”
The road was blocked near the fire scene for several hours Friday.
Three dogs, all uninjured, were taken from the fire scene and found homes. Two were boarded at the Everett Animal Shelter overnight before being released to a relative who claimed them in the morning.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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