A Snohomish man was asleep in a chair when he was shot twice in the head with a .22-caliber pistol and died Saturday in the Lake Stevens area, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
After the shooting, a witness ran out of the Lake Stevens-area trailer and traveled to central Washington before reporting the shooting to police, documents say.
Clayton Edward Butsch, 38, of Lake Stevens was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree murder. He appeared Wednesday in Everett District Court, where bail was set at $500,000.
Officials on Wednesday identified the victim as Chad J. Vavricka, 30. His body was found Sunday near a pile of garbage in the 2100 block of Menzel Lake Road near Snohomish by a couple walking in the area.
Butsch has an extensive criminal record, including convictions for robbery, assault, burglary and drug possession, threatening a police officer and numerous misdemeanors, court records show.
He also was convicted in 1995 of cruelty to animals and intimidating a witness. Court records say he put a woman’s 8-month-old kitten in an oven, burning the kitten so severely it had to be euthanized. The man later said he was angry at the kitten’s owner because she had put his boots out on the porch.
Butsch was released from prison in December 2002 after serving two years and nine months for drug possession and other crimes, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Neither Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen nor court papers gave a motive for the shooting. Documents say the witness told police he ran because he felt terrorized and was fearful of Butsch.
The witness told detectives he believed Vavricka had been staying with Butsch in a fifth-wheel trailer in the 10000 block of S. Lake Stevens Road, documents say.
He told investigators that Butsch walked past him toward the sleeping Vavricka, and "he heard a pop." When he turned to look, Vavricka was bleeding from a wound on the side of his face, documents say.
A woman who also was there screamed, and the witness ran out of the trailer. He said he thought he heard another gunshot as he ran.
The witness stayed at a friend’s house that night, and his brother drove him east of the Cascades, where he reported the shooting to the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office, documents say.
On Wednesday, deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul asked for the high bail and for a court order suspending Butsch’s telephone rights while in jail until detectives interview all witnesses.
Paul told Judge Tom Kelly that witnesses feared Butsch would try to intimidate them. Kelly signed an order suspending telephone privileges for three days.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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