Arlington woman killed by son pleaded for restraining order

ARLINGTON — The Arlington mother who was killed by her son this month asked for a restraining order against him just weeks before her death.

On Sept. 15, Payton Michaels, 19, shot his mother Amanda, 42, multiple times in the 1900 block of 200th Street NE, according to police. The son fled.

About 15 minutes after the shooting, sheriff’s deputies initiated a pursuit of Payton Michaels on Highway 9, according to the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, a cadre of detectives tasked with investigating police use of force. Deputies used a PIT maneuver to stop his car, SMART said. He was thrown from the car and died at the scene.

As of Wednesday, authorities hadn’t publicly identified Payton and Amanda Michaels. But loved ones identified them to The Daily Herald.

Friends said Amanda Michaels was the victim of a broken system that failed to protect her from her son despite pleas for protection.

Amanda Michaels took over her husband’s company, Northwest Barricade and Signs, after he died suddenly in 2021. The company has locations in Burien and Everett.

Amber Hardy, the COO of Northwest Barricade and Amanda Michaels’ best friend, was the first one on the scene after she was killed. Hardy was coming over to hang out with her.

Hardy and Amanda Michaels bonded over their shared love of nature. They specifically loved adventuring to waterfalls.

“We filled each other’s cups,” Hardy said. “You always left Amanda feeling better about yourself.”

Diane Williams, a friend of her mother, called Amanda Michaels a “superwoman.”

“Such a beautiful soul inside and out Amanda Michaels was, and the void as a result of her senseless loss of life will be felt deeply by so many for a long, long while,” Williams wrote in an email Wednesday. “She was a presence that was simply unforgettable.”

Amanda Michaels’ mother Dawn Jursch-Bennett called her daughter “my world.” Amanda Michaels had an insatiable lust for life, she said.

“She loved life. She loved the sun. She loved the rain,” Jursch-Bennett said. “She loved everything.”

“I just don’t know what life will look like without her,” she said. “I just don’t.”

SMART spokesperson Mandy Kruger said Wednesday detectives had no update in the investigation into Payton Michaels’ death.

‘In fear for her life’

On the afternoon of Aug. 26, Payton Michaels pointed a gun at his mother and threatened to kill her in their home, according to a report from a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy. Police arrested Payton Michaels for investigation of felony harassment. Prosecutors later added a second-degree assault charge, also a felony.

Everett District Court Judge Pro Tem David Ruzumna set bail at $50,000. Payton Michaels remained in the Snohomish County Jail.

Two days after the arrest, Amanda Michaels, filed for a protection order in Snohomish County Superior Court. In her petition, she wrote that her son had threatened her in the past with a knife and been violent with her. She also asked a judge to order a mental health evaluation for her son.

Writing in third person, she added she was “in fear for her life and her children’s lives.” Amanda Michaels had a daughter, 13, and another son, 7.

A court commissioner signed off on a temporary protection order and a separate order for Payton Michaels to surrender his weapons.

These orders were made all the more vital after Payton Michaels’ public defender filed a motion asking for his client’s release from jail.

“Payton Michaels is a 19-year-old man with no criminal history,” wrote his attorney, Glen Rice. “The Court has imposed an order to surrender weapons and a no-contact order. These conditions are the least restrictive means to ensure that Payton will not commit a violent offense while this matter is pending.”

If released, Payton Michaels would stay in a hotel and continue working as a DoorDash driver, Rice wrote.

“Payton understands and will continue to comply with the terms of the no-contact order upon his release,” the public defender wrote.

On Sept. 6, Everett District Court Judge Tam Bui agreed to release Payton Michaels.

Four days later, Commissioner Soloman Kim denied Amanda Michaels’ request for a restraining order against her son because she missed a court hearing. Hardy said Wednesday that her friend didn’t go because “she didn’t understand the process.”

Amanda Michaels didn’t realize she needed to be at that hearing, Hardy said.

“Amanda was really upset that she missed that,” she added. “Victims don’t have an attorney,” to help them traverse the court system.

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