‘Master manipulator’: New details in case of Anchor Pub owner

EVERETT — A notebook containing a list of 32 names, as well as hard drives with child porn, were found in the house of Christian Sayre, an Everett bar owner charged with 10 felony sexual assaults of separate victims, according to new allegations filed in court.

One by one, detectives tried to contact people named in the journal. At least four of those women reported Sayre sexually assaulted them in Oregon, wrote Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Taryn Jones in a motion to maintain bail in February. The newly alleged assaults were dated as early as 2001.

Sayre, 35, posted bond last week and walked out of jail for the second time in five months. He was out of custody Wednesday, with the expectation that he shows up to future court hearings.

Included in court documents was a search warrant detailing evidence found in Sayre’s home, as well as reports from a series of investigations in Oregon.

Sayre has owned the historic Anchor Pub on Hewitt Avenue for six years. Police initially arrested him in October for investigation of two counts of second-degree rape and one count of indecent liberties. He posted $120,000 bond hours later.

More people contacted Everett police in the following months, reporting Sayre sexually assaulted them, too. Some reported they believed they were drugged at the bar and had little to no memory of what happened, despite only having a couple of drinks.

Allegations piled up. By January, police had opened at least 20 investigations.

“Master manipulator,” “predator” and “robotic charisma” were just a few of the words used by survivors and others to describe Sayre in interviews with The Daily Herald.

Everett police forwarded reports to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Hillsboro, Oregon. Sayre lived in Oregon before moving to Snohomish County around 2010.

On Jan, 18, Sayre was arrested again and charged by the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office with the two counts of second-degree rape and eight counts of indecent liberties.

This time, his bail was set at $1 million.

Last month, Sayre’s defense attorney, Kelly Canary, filed a motion to reduce bail.

“There is strong evidence before the Court that Mr. Sayre is not a flight risk, will not interfere with the orderly administration of justice or commit a violent offense given that after he posted bail in October, he hired a lawyer, shut down the Anchor Pub and did not leave Everett.”

Canary noted the last alleged offense occurred in 2020, and he has strong ties to Everett.

Superior Court Judge Edirin Okoloko reduced bail from $1 million to $700,000 — and Sayre was able to post that amount.

Jones had filed a 47-page response to the defense motion, including a search warrant that was offered as an exhibit.

Everett detectives searched Sayre’s home in November. Along with the notebook of names, they found a shoebox with nine external hard drives. Child porn was found on some of them, according to court papers. On others, files reportedly had women’s names — some of them matching women listed in Sayre’s notebook. Detectives reported finding photos of at least one of the listed women.

Detectives referred the list to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, who tried to contact the women.

The first woman on the list reported she met Sayre in 2003, when she was 14 and living in Oregon, police wrote. He was also a teenager at the time. The woman reported Sayre sexually assaulted her twice over the course of a day or two, despite her “having told him she was not OK with it and her trying to push him away.”

A second woman on the list called a detective in December. She reported she first met Sayre when she was 14 and he was 15, Jones wrote, and that the sexual contact was not always consensual. Sayre was “very manipulative,” the woman reported. She described his personality as being like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

A third woman on the list told police she met Sayre while in high school around 2004. He sexually assaulted her multiple times, according to her report. She described Sayre as being “extremely manipulative.”

A detective called another woman on the list in December. She reported Sayre raped her when she was 17 and he was 20, Jones wrote. She and Sayre were dating and she was at his house, she told police. She was “inexperienced.” They kissed. Then he pressured her to have sex, she reported.

“Stop,” she said. “What are you doing?”

He did not listen, she said.

A report from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office included more accounts of sexual assault.

During the execution of the search warrant, Everett detectives also found high school IDs, work badges and licenses of at least 10 girls and young women, including items related to three names on the notebook list.

Sayre spent two decades sexually assaulting “one individual after another,” Jones wrote in the motion. “… The defendant was a prominent figure in the bar and restaurant scene in Everett and many of the victims came into contact with him through that community.”

As early as 2017, a whisper network on social media and in the bar scene warned people about Sayre. He wasn’t arrested until four years later.

On Feb. 4, Sayre called his girlfriend from jail, and the pair joked about fleeing, according to Jones’ motion.

“You’re not escaping with me for a (unintelligible) this weekend?” Sayre asked. The pair both laughed, according to court documents. Jones argued the exchange indicates Sayre is a flight risk.

Earlier this year, 10 sexual assault protection orders were filed against Sayre in Snohomish County Superior Court, one for each person for whom charges were filed.

One woman filed a civil lawsuit this year alleging that, along with Sayre, employees of The Anchor were liable for the night he assaulted her.

“The Anchor Defendants and their agents and employees had knowledge of Sayre’s reputation of serving roofie drinks to females, including female customers at the Anchor Pub,” the legal complaint reads. “… There were some occasions where employees working at the Anchor Pub warned female customers not to accept a drink from Sayre.”

According to Jones, under state guidelines Sayre faces 17½ to 23⅓ years behind bars, if convicted of all 10 criminal charges against him.

A tentative trial date is set for this month. The state’s initial witness list had over 70 names.

The Daily Herald plans to follow developments in this case. If you have a story to share related to the investigation, please contact reporter Ellen Dennis at 425-339-3486; edennis@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterellen.