Man arrested; missing Everett woman feared dead

EVERETT — Hope vanished Thursday that a missing Everett woman would be found safe.

Sherry Harlan’s ex-boyfriend, a Gold Bar man, was arrested early Thursday, and police now say they’re investigating what happened to the 35-year-old woman as a homicide.

Harlan hasn’t been found.

The man was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Thursday for investigation of ­second-degree murder and failing to register as a sex offender, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.

The Herald generally doesn’t name suspects until they’ve made a court appearance. The man is scheduled to go before a judge today.

Police immediately began focusing on the man, 40, as they searched for Harlan, who had been missing for a week.

The man is listed among Harlan’s friends on her Facebook page.

Neighbors and friends told investigators that Harlan told them the man beat her and she was afraid to call the relationship off, fearing for her life, Hover said.

After neighbors realized Harlan was missing, they told police they’d heard yelling and fighting coming from Harlan’s apartment on Saturday.

Harlan’s co-workers at a Lynnwood department store called police Tuesday night after she didn’t report for several shifts. That was unusual for a woman who was known for being reliable and punctual, Hover said. After visiting Harlan’s apartment late Tuesday, sheriff’s officials called her disappearance suspicious.

Sheriff’s detectives searched Harlan’s south Everett apartment Wednesday. It appeared that there was an attempt to clean the apartment, Hover said. Portions of vinyl flooring and carpet were cut out and removed.

The investigation led to the Gold Bar-area, where the ex-boyfriend had been living. Investigators found bloody clothing in the man’s home and car.

Police also had been looking for Harlan’s car. Late Thursday sheriff’s detectives were investigating if a burned-out car found near Gold Bar might be hers.

Hover said the man they arrested had a stab wound in the leg and scratches on his face, forearms, body and lower back.

He has raven tattoos on his left arm and axes, clouds and planets inked on his chest, police records show.

Officials haven’t released what, if anything, the man told detectives about Harlan’s disappearance.

Police said the man’s criminal history includes a sexual abuse conviction from 1990 in Oregon. He also has convictions for assault and domestic violence.

When the man first registered with Snohomish County as a level-1 sex offender on July 25, 2008, he was homeless, according to a police report. The state Department of Corrections ranks sex offenders as level-1 when they consider someone a minimal risk to the community and unlikely to re-offend.

The man continued to check in weekly with officials as required for more than a year.

He was arrested on Nov. 14 after he allegedly failed to tell police where he was living. The man was released from jail on Dec. 11 and told that he must continue to register with sheriff’s detectives. He reportedly failed to do so, the report said.

Harlan wasn’t the first woman to fear the man, who at times lived out of his car, court documents show.

A Monroe woman in 2008 asked a judge to keep him away from her and her two children. She said the man threatened her several times, including once at knife point. He also played rough with her children.

In a letter written from the King County Jail, the man objected to the protection order.

The judge ordered him to stay away from the woman.

Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.<.i>