Four people were charged last week with a March 11 home-invasion robbery in Lynnwood that later developed a subplot, including a signed contract to murder the four victims and a police officer.
One of the defendants, James Alfred Gray, 19, of Shoreline was being held in the Snohomish County Jail on $1 million bail.
The four are accused of robbing two men and two women at a Lynnwood apartment complex in the 20600 block of 60th Avenue W.
Cash, marijuana, wallets, jewelry, an Xbox, an iPod and other items were stolen, deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow said.
The murder-for-hire charge against Gray stemmed from an alleged jailhouse request to kill the victims to eliminate witnesses to the robbery, Darrow said.
According to charging papers, Gray signed a hand-printed contract March 14 with his cellmate, who was being held on traffic charges and for violating a no-contact order. The cellmate went to police.
Under the contract, the cellmate reportedly was supposed to “erase” the four victims “to be positive that there are no testimony’s (sic) against James Gray,” charging papers say.
It also reportedly called for a Lynnwood officer, supposedly the arresting officer, to be “erased,” Darrow said. The named officer, however, was not involved in the case, Darrow added.
Gray allegedly offered the cellmate $20,000 for the killings, money that he planned to earn from another home-invasion robbery at a later time, Darrow said.
Three masked men – two with shotguns and the third with a BB gun that looked like an automatic rifle – burst into the apartment and forced the occupants to the floor in a bedroom. One victim was struck repeatedly.
Gray is charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Another man who allegedly entered the apartment, Jerric M. Jones, 19, of Shoreline is charged with robbery and burglary.
A third man remains under investigation, Darrow said, but no charges have been filed.
A woman acquaintance of people in the apartment went there beforehand, purportedly to buy some marijuana, Darrow said. Instead, she made sure the front door was unlocked, Darrow said. Samantha Kaye Auger, 18, of Lake Forest Park is charged with first-degree robbery.
Auger told police that she and Gray allegedly planned the robbery to get even with two of the apartment’s occupants, who are acquaintances, documents say.
A second woman, Nickie Sue McGregor, 26, of Seattle allegedly drove the getaway car. She also is charged with first-degree robbery.
Jim Haley is a reporter with The Herald in Everett.
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