Accused killer of tenant now charged with 2 earlier assaults

EVERETT — An 84-year-old landlord, jailed with $1 million bail for allegedly killing a tenant, now faces charges that he assaulted two of his other renters. His bail has been increased.

Lloyd Richmond was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree assault stemming from two incidents in 2019.

In mid-September of that year, Richmond allegedly beat a woman with a tire wrench. About a month later, he allegedly grabbed a tenant by the throat.

In the first incident, Richmond was giving the woman, who was a tenant, a ride home when he stopped on 63rd Avenue SE to check on his boat, according to the charges. The landlord then reportedly told her to get out of the car and pepper-sprayed her.

She tried to run, but Richmond forced her to the ground and hit her with a metal object, she told police. The woman said her hands were injured from trying to defend herself.

The alleged assault was broken up when a witness heard the woman screaming. The witness found the victim lying face down on the ground with Richmond reportedly straddling her with a metal object in his hand. Another witness told police he saw the suspect holding the woman’s neck in one hand. Richmond had a metal folding tire wrench in his hand, the witness reported, according to court documents.

One of the witnesses told Richmond to get off the woman. He complied and the woman was able to get away.

Police say Richmond acknowledged assaulting his tenant, telling officers he “just broke.”

Two days after that alleged attack, the woman filed for a domestic violence protection order against Richmond in superior court.

“I am afraid for my life, he tried to kill me,” the woman wrote in the petition for the protection order.

The restraining order was granted.

The second new charge stems from an episode just over a month later. The victim told police he got into an argument with his landlord at Richmond’s house in the 8800 block of Del Campo Drive near Everett, according to court papers. He rents multiple rooms in the home to tenants.

While arguing, Richmond allegedly grabbed and squeezed the victim’s throat and pushed him against a wall. The man said it was hard to breathe while Richmond was holding his throat. A Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy noticed two red lacerations on the man’s neck, according to the charges.

A witness confirmed the victim’s allegations in a written statement to police.

Richmond acknowledged there was an argument but denied assaulting him, according to court papers.

The 84-year-old was arrested earlier this month for investigation of second-degree murder and first-degree assault. He is accused of killing one of his tenants in late August after an argument.

The presumed victim, a 49-year-old Everett man, was last heard from on Aug. 28. Detectives had not located the man as of Monday morning, said sheriff’s office spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe. Nor had they recovered a gun associated with the alleged attack.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots the day the tenant went missing. A neighbor saw Richmond get a gray tarp, “wrap something” in the driveway and load it into the bed of his Dodge pickup, according to court papers. The neighbor later saw Richmond spread some type of “litter or absorbent” to cover up a red stain on the driveway.

Detectives are still actively investigating the case, O’Keefe said.

Before these cases, Richmond had little criminal history. He has never been convicted of a felony. He was convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence assault in Snohomish County for a crime in 2002.

Richmond’s bail for the alleged murder was set last week at $1 million by Everett District Court Judge Pro Tempore Remy Leonard. A judge raised his bail by $200,000 on Friday to $1.2 million — $100,000 each for the two new alleged offenses.

He was in custody Monday at the Snohomish County Jail.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.