EVERETT — A Monroe woman may have had hot sauce thrown in her eyes before being strangled to death last month inside her downtown apartment.
Investigators found hot sauce on Angela Pettifer’s face and hair, according to an affidavit filed Monday in Everett District Court. Hot sauce also was found on the mattress near Pettifer’s head and on the floor. The sauce may been used as a blinding agent, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Coleen St. Clair said Monday.
Investigators found a broken glass hot sauce bottle in the bedroom. They say it is the same brand of hot sauce discovered in the Michael Benjamin’s second-floor business suite at the Savoy, which is a mixed-use building with businesses at the lower levels and apartments above.
Benjamin, 45, was arrested Friday in Seattle for investigation of second-degree murder.
He made a brief appearance Monday in Everett District Court.
Pettifer, 36, had been out drinking with her father Aug. 14. The two became separated and he took a cab home. A couple saw Pettifer outside her apartment building as she was trying to find her building key. The couple tried to help her and told police that Benjamin offered take her up to her apartment, police said.
He claimed to be “unofficial security” for the building and helped the couple get Pettifer to her apartment, Monroe Detective Barry Hatch wrote in an affidavit. Once Pettifer was inside, Benjamin and the couple left.
A different witness told police she saw Benjamin about two hours later coming from the third floor to the second floor, where his business suite is located. He was sweating profusely, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Coleen St. Clair said. The witness commented about the hot weather.
She heard Benjamin say something like, “Well, it’s an awful night to have sex,” Hatch wrote.
Police contacted Benjamin, a self-employed handyman, during the beginning of their investigation. He was accompanied by his attorney and provided two tape-recorded statements. He allegedly told police that he didn’t know Pettifer, never entered her apartment that night and didn’t touch her, St. Clair said.
Investigators said they found genetic evidence on Pettifer’s chest that matches Benjamin’s DNA profile.
His attorney, Alan Singer, argued Monday that there wasn’t probable cause to hold his client for investigation of murder. He said the evidence police cited in the affidavit doesn’t prove that Benjamin is responsible for Pettifer’s death.
“They’re making a whole lot of assumptions because they’re having a hard time putting things together,” Singer said.
Singer represented Benjamin in 2005 after three girls complained that Benjamin touched them inappropriately. Benjamin pleaded guilty to three counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. He was required to register as a sex offender.
Everett District Court Judge Roger Fisher on Monday said there was probable cause to arrest Benjamin and ordered him held on $1 million bail.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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