EVERETT — Neighbors said a woman killed Wednesday night often walked her dog through the cul de sac.
She seemed to love the champion papillon as if it were her child, they said. The woman smiled easily and allowed children to play with her beloved pet.
One neighbor also said they heard what they believed were arguments between the woman and a man who shared the house.
Late Wednesday, neighbors watched in horror as the man was ordered out of the home by police. He walked out backward, dressed in white briefs and a T-shirt, his hands up, blood on his clothes and tears dripping down his face.
Major crime detectives Thursday continued to investigate why the Everett man, 62, told police he fatally shot his girlfriend late Wednesday.
He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Thursday on suspicion of second-degree murder.
The man apparently called 911 just before 11 p.m. Wednesday and told dispatchers he shot the woman, Snohomish County sheriff’s investigators said.
Patrol deputies raced to the home and found the body of a woman inside.
She appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound, sheriff’s Lt. Ty Trenary said. Her identity was not released Thursday.
The shooting happened in a small development in the 11500 block of 23rd Place W. near the south end of Paine Field, just outside Everett city limits.
The suspect and the woman both lived at the house, Trenary said.
Neighbors heard sirens and saw patrol cars swarm the area. They later heard deputies order the man out of the two-story house and saw him being handcuffed.
“I saw he was covered in blood, on his arms and hands,” said Travis Lambright, who lives a few doors down from the pair.
Jesse Agag saw paramedics rush into the couple’s house.
“I knew something bad had happened after they came out with an empty stretcher,” Agag said.
Police canvassed the neighborhood, asking if anyone had heard gunfire or had heard the couple argue.
Angie Doneyhue, whose house is right next door, said on several occasions she heard what she believed to be a couple shouting at each other, including Wednesday night.
“I was in the back yard and heard them argue,” she said.
Lambright said he’d only said “Hi” a few times to the man.
“They seemed pretty private and kept to themselves,” Agag said. “I’d see her out walking the dogs.”
Neighbors said the man and the woman may have worked for Boeing.
The jailed man and the woman were renting the house in Marino Estates, a small housing development in unincorporated Everett.
Court documents show that the man had been separated from his wife of seven years since February 2007. The ex-wife filed for separation in May in Snohomish County Superior Court. She lives in Oregon, according to the court documents.
The separation decree indicates the man was awarded possession of an extensive gun collection.
Detectives spent much of the day gathering evidence and documenting the scene. No other details about the investigation were released.
The man is scheduled to go before a judge today.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to do an autopsy on the woman.
Denise Johnson watched officials carry the woman’s body from her neighbor’s home Thursday morning. She said she was scared and upset about the loss of life so close to home.
“It’s sad,” Johnson said. “She was young. Her life is gone now.”
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com
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