EVERETT — A Lynnwood man accused of striking his grandmother several times in the head with a rock allegedly told detectives that he intended to kill the 81-year-old woman.
Eric Daniel Rupp, 26, was charged Feb. 11 with attempted first-degree murder in the Feb. 6 beating of Myrtle Rupp.
He was being held in the Snohomish County Jail in lieu of $200,000 cash bail. His grandmother remained in serious condition the evening of Feb. 11 at Harborview Medical Center’s intensive care unit in Seattle.
He was arrested in her Dodge Spirit on Feb. 6 in Airway Heights west of Spokane after police issued an alert for her car. Her car and purse had been taken from her home, where the defendant had been staying, according to a court affidavit filed by deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler.
Police found a “good-sized” rock near where Myrtle Rupp fell.
The defendant’s sister told police her brother had an anger management problem and would “blow up over the smallest things,” Stemler said.
According to Stemler, the defendant told the officers: “OK guys, this is what happened. I struck Myrtle Rupp in the head with a stone and killed her.”
He was surprised to learn that his grandmother wasn’t dead, Stemler said.
He allegedly told the officers he had thought about killing his grandmother for three or four weeks.
He told the detectives he woke up around noon Feb. 6. His grandmother was seated at her computer desk in the living room. He grabbed a rock that had been under a table and hit her in the head, Stemler said.
She was still conscious when he hit her a second time, and she fell off the chair. He then pulled her away from a wall and struck here once or twice more, according to the affidavit.
He was asked if he should have called for help after first striking his grandmother. According to the affidavit, he replied: “Why would I? I wanted to kill her.”
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