Murder charge shelved for lack of evidence in Lynnwood killing
Published 10:59 pm Thursday, September 18, 2008
LYNNWOOD — Detectives once believed a dirty tennis shoe found in a ditch could tie a convicted felon to the brutal beating and strangulation death of a Lynnwood man.
Instead, the shoe turned out to be a reason to set Carl Mattos free and drop the murder charge against him.
Mattos, 47, was released from jail earlier this month. Investigators were unable to find forensic evidence on a tennis shoe to link him to the 2006 death of Dennis Brockman, according to court documents.
Mattos had been behind bars since February for investigation of first-degree murder. Federal authorities also had been reviewing the slaying after learning that Brockman had snitched on Mattos a couple of years ago during a federal investigation into illegal gun sales. Mattos was sent away to a federal prison for several months.
“Without additional physical evidence I didn’t believe at this time that I could prove beyond a reasonable doubt Mr. Mattos was responsible,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Bonnie Tweten said.
Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives continue to investigate, she said. The charge was dismissed in a way that leaves the door open for prosecutors to charge Mattos in the future, if evidence leads them to that decision, Tweten said.
Public defender Marybeth Dingledy said prosecutors don’t have any proof Mattos is responsible for Brockman’s death.
“They really have no evidence against him,” she said. “There’s no physical evidence and he didn’t give any statements.”
All they have is the word of the co-defendant, Adam Ulanowski, she said.
Ulanowski, 30, remains behind bars, charged with first-degree murder. He is awaiting trial scheduled for later this year.
Investigators linked Ulanowski to the slaying through stolen property, court records show. Everett police reported to detectives they found an abandoned car full of checks, credit cards and paper documents. Some of the property belonged to Brockman.
Police were able to lift a fingerprint off one of the documents and traced the print back to a woman. She told investigators she got the documents from Ulanowski, who had traded them for methamphetamine, prosecutors wrote.
Brockman’s body was found Aug. 7, 2006, inside his Lynnwood-area mobile home.
He was a known drug dealer who kept large amounts of cash in his house, court records show. He also was a partner in a pawnshop and often had jewelry, watches and tools at home. Detectives believed Brockman had been robbed.
Ulanowski has pointed the finger at Mattos for the slaying. He allegedly told people Mattos killed Brockman out of retaliation for sending him to prison, court records said.
Ulanowski also allegedly said Mattos was wearing tennis shoes when he repeatedly kicked Brockman in the head and told them where to find the bloody shoes, according to court documents.
A shoe was found in February and sent to the state crime lab. Investigators were unable to extract any identifiable DNA, Tweten wrote in court documents.
“We had reason to believe there was additional physical evidence to incriminate the defendant,” she said. “The physical evidence didn’t materialize.”
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
