Herald staff
A 21-year-old Mill Creek man pleaded innocent to a first-degree murder charge Thursday in the Sept. 28 strangulation death of his girlfriend’s 17-year-old sister.
Robert Dale Woods, 21, was ordered held on $250,000 cash bail.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Anita Farris set a Nov. 16 trial date for Woods.
He is accused of using a telephone cord to strangle Jolene Desrosier at the teen’s Everett apartment.
Woods has been jailed since he telephoned police saying he found her naked and dead when he returned to her apartment. He initially said he had no idea how she died, according to court documents. He then told police numerous stories about what happened, deputy prosecutor Mark Roe said in charging papers.
Roe wrote that Woods had no driver’s license and Desrosier allowed him to stay at her apartment during the workweek because it was convenient to his job.
The teen-ager was a Lake Stevens High School student who lived on her own and was taking college-level classes. She worked as a waitress.
Woods was convicted of assault as a juvenile and has numerous misdemeanor convictions and a history of violence toward women, Roe wrote.
Woods originally was charged with second-degree murder in Everett District Court. The charge Wednesday was moved to Superior Court, where serious cases are tried.
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