The community will gather this evening at St. Matthew’s Church in the Renton Highlands for a vigil to remember Ingrid Lyne, a Renton mother of three whose violent death has left those who know and love her distraught.
A Seattle man was arrested in Snohomish County late Monday afternoon for investigation of murder after investigators searched Lyne’s home on Camas Avenue Northeast and discovered Mariner tickets for Friday night. She had told family she was going to the game with a man named “John,” according to court documents.
Lyne, a single mother of three daughters, was reported missing by her former husband to the Renton Police Department on Saturday morning; later that afternoon, what investigators believe are her partial remains were found in a recycling bin in Seattle’s Central District.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office will officially release her name and how she died.
The suspect in her death, 37-year-old John Robert Charlton, made his first appearance Tuesday in King County Superior Court in downtown Seattle. The judge set bail at $2 million; Charlton is being held in the King County Jail in downtown Seattle.
His next court appearance is Thursday, which is also the deadline to charge him.
The community vigil, organized by Lyne’s friends, will begin at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 1700 Edmonds Ave. N.E., at 6:30 p.m. and end with a silent walking vigil to Lyne’s residence nearby.
Friends also have set up a gofundme account in Lyne’s name to help her three daughters, ages 12, 10 and 7. As of late Tuesday afternoon, about $54,000 has been raised.
Lyne, who is divorced, was a nurse at Swedish Hospital on Broadway in Seattle.
“As you can imagine, our team is distraught to hear this news about Ingrid,” said Mary Beth Lowell, communications director for Providence Health and Services, who also was waiting for official confirmation of Lyne’s death.
“We also continue to keep her family and friends in our thoughts and prayers and are providing her co-workers here with any grief and counseling support they need during this time,” she said.
A neighbor, Edward Franceschina, who lives across the street, last saw Lyne Friday afternoon when she was getting her mail and she said “hi.”
“[She] was a good neighbor. The way things happened was terrible,” he said.
A court document, known as Certification for Determination of Probable Cause, spells out Seattle detectives’ case against Charlton and notes he has a criminal history in six states.
A Seattle resident noticed at about 4:20 p.m. Saturday afternoon that his recycling can was heavy as he was pulling it from the curb. He emptied it on the lawn. He noticed a foot inside one of the bags and called 911.
Investigators with the Seattle Police Department and the Medical Examiner’s Office discovered a human head, an arm with a hand and a lower leg and foot inside the bag, according to the court document.
Investigators searched missing-persons reports and learned that Ingrid Lyne had been reported missing to the Renton Police Department earlier in the afternoon. An identification was made from her driver’s license and Facebook photographs.
Lyne’s former husband Phil had planned to return their three daughters home on Saturday. When no one answered the door, Phil Lyne called Lyne’s mother, who has a key to the house. She found her purse, phone, computer and tablet, but Lyne wasn’t there.
Lyne’s mother called a number she found on her daughter’s cell phone and exchanged texts with a man, according to the court document. He responded to her initial text with, “My name is John. I thought she was with her kids today.”
Lyne’s mother then asked when he saw her last. She also told him she’s not at home, but her purse and phone are, and she’s called 911.
Charlton responded: “911? What’s going on? We went to the Mariners game last night but we didn’t stay the night together because she has her kids today … not sure what she has told you about me and our relationship.”
The mother responded that her daughter was missing and police may want to speak to him as he might be the last person who saw her. Charlton never responded, according to the court document.
Finally Ingrid’s mother wrote in part: “Any help would be appreciated. We are desperate. She would never just go off and leave her family.”
At about 1 a.m. on April 10, Seattle detectives searched Lyne’s home after obtaining a search warrant, collecting swabs of blood and discovering a nearly empty box of plastic garbage bags that appear similar to the ones found in Seattle.
In the bathroom near the bathtub, detectives found a 15-inch pruning saw. Family members told detectives the saw wasn’t normally in the bathroom.
After he was interviewed in Lake Stevens, Charlton told detectives he had been dating Lyne for about a month. He and Lyne had returned to her house after attending the game, but he was so intoxicated how they got there or what happened once they arrived, according to court documents.
He’s not sure how he got back to Seattle but assumed Lyne drove him there, where he slept on the sidewalk. He spent Saturday and Sunday nights at an ex-girlfriend’s house in Lake Stevens.
He claimed he wasn’t injured, but detectives noticed an abrasion on his forehead, an injury to his lip and chin and his chest was scratched, according to court documents.
Brian Beckley and Leah Abraham also contributed to this report.