GRANITE FALLS – A man police hope to question in connection with the slaying and dismemberment of his girlfriend was arrested earlier today in Fresno, Calif.
Michael Ray Faler, 40, was found in a stolen car and taken into custody about 2 p.m., according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
Faler has a warrant for his arrest here, charging him with second-degree murder and first-degree robbery.
Police believe he used a knife to carjack a car Monday night at the Haggen Food and Pharmacy in Stanwood. Police recovered Faler’s father’s car at the scene, which led them to his Granite Falls home. There, his parents told police that they believed Faler had hurt his girlfriend. Investigators found evidence of a homicide inside the home, sheriff’s spokesman Rich Niebusch said.
Ed Jones, Faler’s father, told The Herald on Wednesday there was blood inside the guest house, where his son was living. Blood also was found in a trash bin.
Detectives also have found another crime scene in the 23300 block of Mountain Loop Highway that they believe is connected to the woman’s death, Niebusch said. He would not comment on what had been found. He also would not say if investigators have recovered the woman’s body.
Detectives do not believe her death is connected to the slaying of two Seattle women on Pinnacle Lake Trail in July.
“All evidence indicates he was not even in the state at time,” Niebusch said.
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