FEDERAL WAY — Relatives and friends of a slain Graham couple had a chance to celebrate their lives at a memorial service Saturday at the Federal Way Community Center.
Brian Mauck, 30, and Beverly Mauck, 28, were found shot to death Nov. 17 at their home.
The Maucks had been married a year-and-a-half. Brian worked as an air conditioner technician in Auburn. Beverly worked at a car dealership in McKenna.
Their obituary in the Tacoma News Tribune says they loved scuba diving, traveling, riding their Harleys, the Seahawks, but most of all their family and friends.
A neighbor, Daniel Tavares Jr., 41, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated murder, which could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors say Tavares killed the Maucks in a dispute over a $50 debt he claimed he was owed.
Tavares had been released from prison in Massachusetts in June after serving a 16-year manslaughter sentence for killing his mother.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has called for the judge who released him — a judge Romney appointed — to resign.
In a statement, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman’s decision to free Tavares without bail “represented an inexplicable lapse in judgment and was inexcusable.”
“Unless there are facts unknown to us, Governor Romney believes Judge Tuttman should resign,” Fehrnstrom said.
Tuttman has declined comment on the case.
Prosecutors had tried to keep Tavares behind bars for allegedly assaulting two prison guards while he was nearing the end of his sentence.
Fehrnstrom said Tavares had also threatened in a letter intercepted by prison officials in February 2006 to kill Romney and other state officials. When Romney was in Seattle on Monday, he was warned that Tavares might be in the area, Fehrnstrom said.
Tavares had moved to Washington to marry a prison pen pal.
Jennifer Lynn Tavares, 37, is charged with rendering criminal assistance, a gross misdemeanor for lying to investigators. She initially told police she was having sex with her husband when she heard shots fired. She pleaded not guilty and posted $5,000 bail.
Daniel Tavares also is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm. He was forbidden to have a gun as a condition of his parole.
Investigators said Jennifer Tavares had obtained a .22 caliber gun from a family member for self-protection before Daniel Tavares moved in with her. Later, she was asked to return the gun and claimed she did not know what had become of it. Daniel Tavares said they threw the gun off a cliff.
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