A Marysville family was terrorized and a man abducted Tuesday because a woman wanted to recover some NASCAR racing jackets – including one signed by a racing legend – that belonged to her ex-husband, a prosecutor said Friday.
The man left the jackets and other belongings with a former neighbor when he left the state, deputy prosecutor Mara Rozzano said in Everett District Court.
Three people appeared in court Friday for alleged involvement in an invasion robbery of the former neighbor’s home. Pro-tem Judge Arnold Young set bail at $500,000 each. The three were being held for investigation of first-degree robbery, first-degree kidnapping and theft of a firearm.
Rozzano said Christine I. Iverson, 34, of Marysville wanted the jackets, and several weeks ago went to the victims’ home in the 900 block of Quinn Avenue in Marysville to retrieve her ex-husband’s belongings. Legendary race car driver Dale Ernhardt, who died in a crash at the Daytona 500 in 2001, had signed one of the jackets.
The man refused to turn the items over to Iverson, and she was escorted off his property by police, Rozzano said.
Iverson then recruited her boyfriend and his friends to get the jackets and other valuables left by her ex-husband, Rozzano said.
According to court documents, Charles Lloyd Hiatt, 34, of Marysville, Iverson’s boyfriend, and Mark Damon Tezzaras, 34, of Mount Vernon were among the robbers. Police still are looking for two other suspects.
The armed intruders knocked on the family’s door in the early morning hours and forced their way inside. A man, his wife and two children were in the house at the time.
One of the suspects struck the man on the head and bound him with duct tape. The gunmen then ransacked the house. One told the woman to lift her nightgown, Rozzano said, and her 15-year-old son came to his mother’s rescue, saying he wasn’t going to let them assault her.
The teenager was struck on the head as well, and the intruders left with items from the home, including two shotguns and the family’s two vehicles. The woman was not sexually assaulted.
Two robbers drove off with the man, still bound, in the victim’s van.
A State Patrol trooper attempted to stop the van near Highway 9 and 84th Street NE after seeing a headlight out. After a short chase, the two suspects ran from the van, leaving the victim behind.
Hiatt and Tezzaras were arrested later.
When Iverson’s lawyer, Mickey Krom of Everett, asked for lower bail, Rozzano said the victims were extremely shaken by the incident. “These are law-abiding citizens who were traumatized by what happened,” she said. “They don’t want to go back to their own home.”
Young said he had read police statements about the incident, and added, “I view it as a very serious matter and a serious risk to the victims in this case.”
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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