Ex-boyfriend wouldn't move out, now he's dead

By HECTOR CASTRO
P-I REPORTER

Snohomish County sheriff's detectives have arrested a woman and a man suspected of killing the woman's ex-boyfriend.

Investigators allege the man carried out the slaying with the woman's knowledge.

Both were booked into the Snohomish County Jail early on July 4 for investigation of first-degree murder. Jail records indicate the woman is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

There is not yet any bail set for the male suspect.

The victim, a 49-year-old Sultan man, was found dead on June 26. At the time, sheriff's officials said they were investigating his death as suspicious, but did not release any information about the manner of his death.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office has not released the victim's name saying the release is pending positive identification and further investigation.

Detectives say the victim had broken up with a 46-year-old Sultan woman several months ago, but refused to move out of her home in the 12800 block of 311th Avenue Southeast where the two lived with the woman's mother.

The woman began dating a 30-year-old Gold Bar man, who sometimes stayed over at the home, but still the ex-boyfriend refused to leave.

Early on June 26, the woman called Sultan police and said she arrived home to find her former boyfriend dead in his bed. Sultan police asked the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office to investigate the death.

Sheriff's investigators have said the man died from homicidal violence, but have released no details.

Neither of the two suspects has any apparent criminal record, though the man was the subject of a domestic violence protection order in 2006.