MARYSVILLE — A man who believed he was demonically possessed admitted last week to killing a Marysville resident, saying “voices” told him to do it, according to police.
On Monday, a judge found probable cause and set bail at $1 million for Anthony Boggess, 30, in the death of James Thrower, 65, a former roommate of the defendant.
A friend went to Thrower’s Marysville home Jan. 4 to check on him when he missed work, according to a police report.
The friend had started to worry a couple days earlier when she received suspicious texts from Thrower’s phone. The messages did not sound like things he would say, the friend told police, and she thought somebody else was texting from his phone.
When Thrower stopped responding to texts and emails altogether, the friend went to his house in the 5800 block of 88th Street NE.
She found Thrower’s car parked out front. She knocked and rang the doorbell. Nobody answered. She let herself in through the back of the house.
Inside she found Boggess. He told her he and Thrower had been attacked. police wrote. He reportedly told the friend he’d been hiding and didn’t know where Thrower was.
She called 911. Boggess left by the time police arrived. Law enforcement searched Thrower’s house but found nothing. Police took a missing person report and left.
The friend’s boss then came to the house.
In the garage, the pair found Thrower’s body wrapped in a tarp. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office determined he had been strangled.
The friend told police that Boggess moved in with Thrower two or three years ago and that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Boggess had told her “demons tell him to hurt people,” she told police.
Marysville Police issued a bulletin Jan. 5 saying Boggess was wanted for questioning.
Two days later, Boggess was arrested in Seattle. In a police interview, the defendant reportedly confessed to the killing. Boggess also confessed he planned to light Thrower’s house on fire, police wrote.
Security footage reportedly showed Boggess was the only person who entered or left Thrower’s house between Dec. 31 and Jan 4.
The defendant was booked into the Snohomish County Jail in Everett Friday for investigation of second-degree murder and first-degree attempted arson.
Boggess refused to appear at Monday’s bail hearing in Everett District Court. As of Monday evening, he was behind bars.
Ellen Dennis: 425-339-3486; edennis@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterellen.
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