MILL CREEK — A former Amazon software engineer acknowledged stabbing and killing his wife Thursday in Mill Creek amid the stresses of amassing tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, police say.
Mill Creek police arrested the suspect, 36, for investigation of second-degree murder after calling 911 to report the stabbing, according to a detective’s report.
The deceased had not been publicly identified, as of Friday.
On Friday, the Mill Creek man remained in the Snohomish County Jail.
After getting married in India, the man and his wife moved to Mill Creek in 2021, he told police. In February of last year, however, the man reportedly became “disenchanted” with his work and home lives, leading him to quit his job and cash out his retirement.
In the meantime, he also used credit cards, piling up about $50,000 in debt, according to the detective’s report.
Last week, the Mill Creek man tried using his credit card to order Door Dash, but it was declined, he reported. This triggered a discussion with his wife about their finances. He told they were just behind on payments and he’d take care of it.
Meanwhile, for the past few months, the husband had kept several weapons, including a hatchet and a few knives, under the bed in their home in the 13600 block of 41st Avenue SE, according to police. He told detectives he put them there as an “escape.”
But now that his wife knew about their financial woes, he reportedly didn’t know what to do. He contemplated killing her or himself, according to the report.
After waking up Thursday morning, the suspect hid a knife with a red handle under his thighs as his wife brought him coffee in bed, the detective wrote in the report. She went downstairs. He drank the coffee and washed the cup in the sink. He brought the knife with him.
The man returned to the bedroom, where he put the knife under a pillow, he reported. His wife joined him. She laid down and rested her head on the pillow. They talked about their finances. She tried to console him.
When she got up, he quickly tried to move the knife from beneath the pillow, according to police. She noticed him trying to hide something, so she reached for it. She grabbed the sheath, while he gripped the handle.
As they struggled, the sheath came off the knife. The husband reportedly got control of the weapon.
At this point, the man explained in a police interview, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hurt himself or her. But he started stabbing her in the back, police allege. He thought he was “saving her the humiliation” of returning to India, but he knew she’d die from the wounds, the detective wrote in the report.
The woman fell to the ground, where the man stabbed her in the neck, according to court documents.
After this, the suspect washed the knife and put it in the kitchen, he reportedly told investigators. He went into the garage, drank some whiskey and thought about dying by suicide.
But he instead called 911 to report he’d killed his wife, according to the new police report. He cooperated with officers as they arrested him.
The suspect didn’t appear at a court hearing Friday because he was on safety watch for being a threat to himself.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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