MUKILTEO – A date with an escort nearly cost a Mukilteo man his life after the woman’s bodyguard opened fire, shooting him three times in the head, according to court documents filed Wednesday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Police don’t believe that the escort, Trissa Conner, 27, knew about the shooting, Mukilteo detective Lance Smith said.
Conner was a witness in the abduction of Rachel Burkheimer in 2002. Burkheimer was later murdered by Conner’s boyfriend and other men who held her captive in Conner’s Everett duplex.
On Wednesday, police arrested Darwin L. Williams, 32, of Seattle for shooting the Mukilteo man, who had refused to pay Conner, according to court papers.
Williams, 32, is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder.
On Aug. 12, Conner showed up at the home of the Mukilteo man, who told police he had ordered an escort from an online service. The man believed he would be receiving the same woman standing next to a river in the advertisement on the escort service Web page.
The woman who showed up wasn’t the escort he had picked out, so he told her to leave, according to the affidavit.
The woman asked him to pay gas money, but the man refused and the woman left.
A short time later, he told police, someone knocked on his door. He switched off his porch light and locked the door.
A man police identified as Williams kicked in the front door and demanded money. The victim refused to pay, and Williams shot him three times in the head and left, according to court documents.
The Mukilteo man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. His injuries weren’t considered life-threatening, Smith said.
After speaking with the victim at the hospital, investigators were able to track down the owner of the Seattle-based escort service. The woman, who lives in Montana, confirmed that she had sent “Stacey” to the man’s home in the 1300 block of Mukilteo Speedway.
Police on Tuesday identified the woman as Conner.
She told them she went to the man’s home but left after he got upset because she wasn’t the woman in the advertisement, according to court documents. Conner told investigators that she asked for a “cancellation fee.”
She told police that she brought a man with her for “security reasons,” but said his name was “Howard” and that he never left the vehicle, according to court documents.
After meeting with Conner, investigators followed her to a store in Seattle, where she met Williams, according to police. He was arrested early Wednesday after a short chase.
Conner later told investigators that she lied because she was scared.
Conner said Williams didn’t tell her what happened after he came back from the man’s house, according to court documents.
Last year, Conner testified in the murder trials of several men convicted of murdering Burkheimer. She testified that she feared for her own safety so never called police after seeing Burkheimer bound and beaten in her garage.
No charges were brought against Conner in the Burkheimer case.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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