SEATTLE — A woman who authorities say was slain and dismembered in her suburban home and then had her remains placed in a Seattle recycling bin was a beloved mother of three as well as a sister and friend, her family says.
Ingrid Lyne’s relatives released a statement Tuesday following the initial court appearance of the suspect in her slaying in which they also thanked authorities.
“Thank you to all of you in what has truly been our darkest hour,” the statement said.
A King County judge ordered John Robert Charlton held on $2 million bail and prosecutors said he could face a second-degree murder charge later this week.
Charlton has a criminal history spanning six states and his parents had sought a restraining order against him in 2006, saying he had taken the movie “Hannibal” — about a serial killer — from a shelf and told his mother she should watch it and “beware.”
Charlton, 37, was arrested Monday after police said remains believed to be those of Lyne were found over the weekend in a homeowner’s recycling bin. A head, arm with a hand, lower leg and foot were recovered, court documents state.
The coroner’s office was working to confirm the remains were hers.
Lyne, 40, was reported missing from her Renton home on Saturday morning after her ex-husband arrived with their children and she wasn’t home.
Lyne had planned to go on a date to a Mariners baseball game Friday night, friends said. A neighbor told detectives she had been dating a man named John.
Charlton told police he went to the baseball game with Lyne and returned to her home that night but was so intoxicated he couldn’t recall what happened. He said he had been dating Lyne for about a month.
Seattle police detectives searched Lyne’s home Sunday and found a 15-inch pruning saw near the bathtub, an empty box of plastic garbage bags identical to the type containing the body parts, and collected swabs of suspected blood, according to court documents.
Jennifer Worley, a King County prosecutor, said investigators found bits of human flesh and blood in the bathtub near the saw.
Police said Charlton had abrasions on his forehead and hand, injuries to his lip and chin, and scratches on his chest.
Charlton is believed to have traveled to his ex-girlfriend’s house in Lake Stevens after the killing, where he said he spent the next two nights.
That’s where he was arrested on Monday, according to court papers.
He was ticketed by the Lake Stevens Police Department in February for driving a vehicle with expired registration, but police in Lake Stevens have had no other contact with him, Lt. Jeff Lambier said.
Nevertheless, major crimes detectives with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office have been in touch with Seattle police about the killing, sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
Investigators are being thorough.
“We aren’t looking at him for any specific cases” in Snohomish County, Ireton said.
Gordon Hill, Charlton’s public defender, said at the court appearance Tuesday that no forensic evidence had linked any particular person to the crime.
Hill also said no time of death was established in the certification of probable cause that overlaps with time Charlton was with Lyne.
The judge on Tuesday instructed media not to show Charlton’s face, saying he didn’t want to prejudice a potential jury trial.
In the 2006 filing for a restraining order in Thurston County Superior Court, Charlton’s parents, Ray and JoAnn Charlton, said he had tried to provoke a fight with them while he was drunk and abusive.
They also said he had told them “life was putting too much pressure on him” and he felt he was becoming mentally unstable.
The restraining order was later dismissed at the parents’ request.
John Charlton was convicted that same year of aggravated robbery in Utah. He was also convicted of a 2009 felony theft in Montana and negligent driving in Washington state in 1998.
At a vigil held for Lyne Tuesday night, friend Jim Morrell described her as smart with a sharp sense of humor and said she was a great mother and friend.
“We’re all hurting,” he said, urging the crowd to support her family and especially three young daughters, in the days, months and years to come.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
