Officers believe he planned a ‘murder/suicide’ in Arlington

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 13, 2020

ARLINGTON — A man who was arrested this weekend for investigation of stalking and first-degree assault was also charged Tuesday with second-degree rape, months after the crime allegedly happened.

During his arrest early Sunday morning, the man apparently stabbed himself in the neck. He also was reportedly shot with an electronic stun gun by a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office deputy.

Now, the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team is investigating. SMART is a task force assigned to cases where law enforcement officers have used potentially deadly force.

The suspect is being held at the Snohomish County Jail.

Around 5 a.m. Sunday, the man’s estranged wife woke up to crunching sounds outside her bedroom window, according to records filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.

She had a guest staying at her Arlington home. When they went to look, a man ran across the street and into a patch of woods. One of the cars in her driveway also had a slashed tire.

They called 911. When deputies arrived, they found the woman’s estranged 41-year-old husband in the woods. She has a restraining order against him.

He lives in Battle Ground, in Clark County.

“This means that he had to travel from there to come to her house with an estimated 3 hour and 23 minute travel time,” a deputy wrote in an arrest report.

The suspect and the woman were married for less than a year.

“During that time, they had relationship issues related to (the suspect’s) controlling and assaultive behavior,” the deputy wrote.

They moved to Arlington together in July 2019. He allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old woman while she was incapacitated the next month, the reason for the rape charge filed Tuesday.

The estranged wife found out about the suspected rape in October, and filed for the restraining order. She mentioned the crime in the petition.

On Sunday, the woman told deputies she believed the man had broken the order thousands of times. He was arrested during one of those incidents, in April, when he told her he planned to suffocate himself with helium, she reported.

She also said that earlier this month, the suspect had reached out to a friend of hers on social media.

One of his messages reportedly read: “Trust me if I wanted to hurt her I know where she lives and her family.”

He showed up at the woman’s house about a week later.

When SMART detectives arrived at the scene, they saw footprints in the dirt outside the woman’s bedroom window.

They also found a backpack where the suspect was hiding in the woods. Inside was a small helium tank. The woman did not know about that when she had mentioned it earlier, according to the police report.

Also inside was a plastic bag and bear spray, along with hunting gear, including a knife and camouflage clothing.

“This situation presents itself as a likely murder/suicide,” the deputy wrote.

The man was transported to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett with serious injuries, according to a press release from the SMART task force.

Once the SMART investigation is complete, the results will be sent to the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office to make a decision on the deputy’s use of force.

The suspect was released from the hospital Monday and booked into jail. Besides being arrested for the two felonies and charged with another, he has also been accused of malicious mischief and violating a court order. He has two prior felonies from 2011.

His bail has been set at $1 million.

Stephanie Davey: 425-339-3192; sdavey@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @stephrdavey.