Lengenfelder charged with kidnapping, assault in school attack

By Jim Haley

Herald Writer

EVERETT — An Arlington 17-year-old who allegedly burst into a classroom and held two Lakewood High School students at knifepoint this week was charged in adult court Wednesday with kidnapping and assault.

His 15-year-old brother, who allegedly helped his older sibling write harassing and threatening letters, also was charged Wednesday, but in Snohomish County Juvenile Court, with harassment.

David Thomas Lengenfelder was being held in the Snohomish County Jail in lieu of $100,000 cash bail. He is scheduled for arraignment this afternoon. Mark Roe, deputy prosecutor, has asked for the bail to be maintained.

Lengenfelder is charged in Superior Court with one count of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of second-degree assault.

If convicted, Lengenfelder could be sentenced to about 12 years, Roe said.

The younger brother was being sought Wednesday afternoon by deputies. An arrest warrant is asking $5,000 bail.

Dressed in black and wielding two big knives, Lengenfelder walked into a third-period English class Monday and ordered students and the teacher to the floor, according to documents prepared by Roe.

He also ordered a 15-year-old girl to whom he had sent threatening and sexually explicit letters into a corner, papers say.

A friend of the girl refused to leave her and also was threatened by the knife-wielding intruder, Roe said.

The girls were crying, and he finally dropped the knives when confronted by Mike Anderson, the Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy assigned to the school, who had his gun drawn, Roe said.

Roe said Lengenfelder apparently had a fixation on the 15-year-old girl and began sending her sexually sadistic and harassing letters in November.

In February, a teacher saw Lengenfelder with a notebook containing part of such a letter, and he was expelled from school. He was awaiting sentencing in juvenile court on a felony harassment charge when the attack at Lakewood happened.

Roe said the defendant was cooperative and talked about the incident with sheriff’s Detective Brad Pince.

Lengenfelder said he had planned the takeover for two weeks, intending to hold everyone hostage and let them go if he was allowed an hour with the object of his fixation.

"He says he intended to use that hour to apologize for his previous harassing letters and assure her that he meant no harm," Roe said. It would have been "a little more convincing if not for the two large knives."

Roe said Lengenfelder "candidly admits an obsession" with the former classmate, and he "fancies himself some kind of ‘Ninja’ with martial arts skills … He said he just wanted to talk to (the girl) but letters he’s written detail a darker obsession."

Lengenfelder’s journals have sections with titles such as "RAPE," Roe said.

"His fantasies about (the girl) include using a knife to commit his crimes on her. On the day he went back to the school, he had two."

In connection with Lengenfelder’s juvenile court harassment charge, prosecutors were attempting to have him jailed for a year where he would receive treatment.

Among the evidence cited by deputy prosecutor Remy Leonard was a school psychologist opinion that there was an extremely high likelihood Lengenfelder would kill someone if he doesn’t receive intensive counseling.

Lengenfelder’s younger brother is accused of assisting his sibling and helping him disguise his handwriting.

Court papers filed by Leonard said the 15-year-old advised him to use incorrect grammar and spelling "to make the author appear to be not too bright," papers say.

In addition, he allegedly admitted that he had been aware of his brother’s plans for the attack at Lakewood and did not report it.

You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447 or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.

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