MARYSVILLE — Prosecutors don’t believe the killing of a Marysville man was motivated by his criminal past.
Instead, evidence indicates that Arthur Schroeder, 82, was stabbed to death in his trailer during a robbery.
Prosecutors on Friday charged two people with second-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 24 killing.
They say the suspects, Delaney Henry and Robert Kennedy, admitted to several people that they killed Schroeder inside his small trailer. They also reportedly told people that they robbed Schroeder of about $200 and the key to a safety deposit box they believed held $20,000.
Henry, 28, allegedly told some people that she killed Schroeder because he raped her. She later told detectives that Schroeder propositioned her for sex in the past, but she denied that he ever sexually assaulted her, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Andrew Alsdorf wrote.
Schroeder was a convicted sex offender, but “there is no evidence that his prior convictions had any connection to his murder,” court papers said.
Prosecutors also noted, however, that Schroeder enjoyed the company of “much younger adult women, to whom he would provide cash or prescription pills in exchange for sexual favors.”
Henry was Schroeder’s neighbor at the Brookside Mobile Home Park on State Avenue. She allegedly told detectives that she visited his trailer every other weekend.
Phone records indicate that Henry called Schroeder twice the day he was killed. The records also show that she called Kennedy. Video surveillance shows the suspects together on a bus the afternoon before the slaying. Henry was wearing a scarf similar to the one detectives found at the crime scene.
Schroeder’s grandson told police he discovered his grandfather’s body around 11 p.m. He said he’d gone there to borrow some money or alcohol. Once inside, he found the elderly man lying bloodied and unconscious on the floor. He didn’t call 911 right away. Instead, he and a friend walked to a convenience store and later smoked some marijuana, Alsdorf wrote. He called police about four hours later after he brought his mother to the trailer, court papers said.
Schroeder had been stabbed four times. His heart had been pierced and his throat had been slashed.
His tidy trailer had been ransacked. His cell phone, wallet and a jewelry box were missing. Schroeder’s truck was gone.
The pickup truck was discovered the next day abandoned in Arlington. Someone had torched it.
Detectives eventually heard from witnesses who reported that Henry had confessed to killing Schroeder, court papers said. Another witness told investigators that Henry and Kennedy showed up together the night of the slaying. They allegedly had blood on their clothes and were in possession of three bloodied knives. They also reportedly were sorting through some paperwork.
Police have since recovered the safety deposit box key and confirmed that it opens a box at a local bank. There wasn’t $20,000 inside.
The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court. If convicted, Kennedy, 26, is facing a mandatory life sentence under the state’s persistent offender act. He has prior convictions for robbery and attempted robbery. Henry faces up to 20 years if she is convicted.
Detectives continue to investigate Schroeder’s death. Earlier this week, police arrested a Tulalip man who allegedly gave Henry a ride on the evening of a fatal stabbing. He allegedly threatened someone, warning the person not to talk to police about the homicide.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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