EVERETT — Less than two years after serving out a prison sentence for murder, a Mountlake Terrace man has been charged with molesting a 4-year-old girl.
Mark Downey, 54, pleaded guilty in 2005 to second-degree murder for the killing of a 35-year-old woman, Kathy Lynn Erickson, in Bellingham. He was sentenced to roughly 17½ years in prison.
He was released from custody in July 2020, according to charging papers written by Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Martina Wong.
In 2021, a woman called Mountlake Terrace police to report she believed her daughter had been sexually assaulted. The woman said her husband had tested positive for COVID-19, so they were staying with Downey in Mountlake Terrace.
He allegedly molested one of the woman’s daughters in the middle of the night.
In September, Mountlake Terrace detectives arrested Downey at his workplace. After being advised of his Miranda rights, Downey reportedly said he did nothing wrong and that he is “not that way.”
Downey was charged with failing to register as a sex offender in October in Snohomish County Superior Court. Prosecutors followed up with first-degree child molestation charges in January.
In addition to the murder, Downey had a previous felony sex crime conviction in 1998 out of Buffalo County, Nebraska, for sexually abusing another girl under the age of 10. Court records show he served more than 2½ years in prison for that offense.
This year, a court-ordered forensic report documented Downey’s long history of mental health issues. In April, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge found Downey competent to stand trial on the new charges.
Downey remained in custody Friday at the Snohomish County Jail with bail set at $550,000. A jury trial was tentatively set for summer.
Ellen Dennis: 425-339-3486; edennis@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterellen.
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