Trio accused of spree of home invasions in Snohomish, King counties
Published 5:00 pm Friday, March 22, 2024
MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Police arrested three men Wednesday for investigation of a string of home invasions in Snohomish and King counties.
The suspects were accused of robbery, theft, car theft and burglary, as well as multiple counts of kidnapping and assault.
Around 4:30 a.m. Jan. 15, the suspects broke into a home near 236th Street SW, according to a 15-page police report written by Mountlake Terrace police detective Victor Zuniga. A couple awoke to find one of the men pointing a semiautomatic gun at them. The couple reported four men had broken in.
Two of the men held the couple and their children, ages 5 and 9, at gunpoint while the other two searched the house, Zuniga wrote. The men forced the couple to give their credit card PIN numbers. Two left the house to withdraw over $2,000 from their accounts at a Bank of America in Shoreline.
Security footage showed the family’s BMW driving into the bank around 5 a.m., with one suspect approaching the ATM, according to police.
The suspects returned to the home, where the family was still being held hostage, Zuniga wrote. The four men told them to count to 60. The group left in two cars, one being the BMW, with over $21,000 in stolen valuables.
When investigators arrived, Zuniga found an iPhone in “lost mode” on the front lawn, the police report read. A search warrant later found it belonged to a Seattle man.
Hours before the robbery, cell towers tracked the suspect’s phone along I-5, going north toward Mountlake Terrace, according to Zuniga’s report. Around 3 a.m., he was in the “general area” of the targeted home, the detective wrote.
Investigators believe the suspect accidentally dropped his phone and replaced it the next day.
The day after the alleged robbery, the suspect made a number of Internet searches: “Xbox,” “Oculus,” “MacBook pro 13,” and “Mountlake terrace home invasion,” according to a search warrant.
On Wednesday, police arrested the suspects. Two were booked into jail in King County, with the third, 27, in Snohomish County.
The Seattle man was suspected of six other home invasions in Everett, Seattle and Mill Creek, according to the police report.
He remained in Snohomish County Jail this week with bail set at $1 million.
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
