By By Scott North
Herald Writers
EVERETT — Two years ago, Steven Limar was at the top of his game.
He was the co-captain of the basketball team at Everett High School, a forward with a sweet jump shot who averaged 11 points a game and earned the "most inspirational" award.
Now 20, Limar on Friday was behind bars in Alabama, awaiting extradition to face a first-degree murder charge in the Nov. 17 beating death of an Everett teen.
Joshua Lorbiecki, 15, was a popular sophomore who had recently transferred to Everett High School. He liked sports, too, and had been a batboy for the Mariners baseball team during a summer vacation.
Prosecutors allege Limar and another former Everett High student, Matthew Dominic Teague, 18, of Lynnwood, fatally beat Lorbiecki and left him to die on the football field at Evergreen Middle School.
Robbery was the alleged motive. The killers got just $12, according to court papers.
Limar’s former coach and former teammates gathered to discuss the case Friday.
"We are in a state of shock," Everett basketball coach Darrell Olson said.
He described Limar as one of those young people whose interest in school was inextricably linked to athletics.
"As long as he was involved in playing, that kept him coming to school. Unfortunately, when his career ended, his schooling ended," Olson said.
News of the arrests did not appear to have spread widely among students Friday, said Pat Sullivan, principal at Everett High School.
Limar attended Everett High School for three years but did not graduate from the school. Teague attended Everett High School, Cascade High School and Everett Alternatives High School over a four-month period in 1999, according to district records.
Josh had previously attended Harbour Pointe Middle School in the Mukilteo School District and was a freshman at Kamiak High School last year.
Josh had some run-ins with the law after making friends with the wrong crowd in Mukilteo, according to his family, but his grades and his effort in the classroom improved dramatically after the move to Everett High this fall.
Limar also fell in with the wrong crowd after he left school, his former coach said.
"Some of the circles he ran around with," Olson said, with disgust in his voice. "But when he was with us, on the court or in the locker room, he was always the good-natured guy. He was the emotional leader."
Limar’s mother moved to Phenix City, Ala., during his senior year. She was with him when he surrendered to police there Friday morning, Everett police Sgt. Boyd Bryant said. Limar was expected to return to Everett as early as next week.
A manhunt continued for Teague.
Investigators believe Josh was beaten to death as part of a botched robbery. One of the suspects allegedly told a witness that they knew Josh had been trying to buy $400 worth of marijuana, and they targeted him for the money, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Mark Roe alleged in Superior Court papers.
The suspects reportedly told friends they were disappointed to find only $12 in Josh’s wallet, prosecutors allege. Police found more than $400 in one of Josh’s pockets.
Limar and Teague became suspects in the case after an acquaintance provided their names to police, Roe wrote.
Police looked at surveillance videotapes taken at local businesses before the attack, and hit pay dirt at a convenience store on Evergreen Way, two blocks from where the victim was found.
The tapes showed Josh and both of the defendants at the store. They left together about 15 minutes before witnesses called police to report the beating, Roe alleged.
Herald writer Eric Stevick contributed to this report.
You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431
or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.
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