John Robert Charlton, 37, who describes himself as homeless, was charged Wednesday afternoon with first-degree murder in the brutal death of Ingrid M. Lyne, a Renton mother of three daughters.
If convicted, Charlton would face a prison term of 21 years to nearly 28 years in prison. Charlton is being held in the King County Jail in downtown Seattle on $2 million bail.
Prosecutors write that the 40-year-old Lyne was killed with premeditated intent.
With the filing of charges, Charlton’s second court appearance Thursday has been canceled. He will next appear in court for arraignment at 8:30 a.m. April 27 in courtroom 1201 of the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle.
“The tragic murder of Ingrid Lyne has left a family and community in a spiral of grief and anguish,” King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, said Wednesday.
The community gathered for an emotional candlelight vigil Tuesday evening to remember Lyne at St. Matthew’s Church in the Highlands.
“We may never understand why she was killed,” Satterberg said, but police and prosecutors working on the case did “a tremendous job of piecing together a solid case against the person we believe to be responsible for her death.”
Earlier Wednesday, the King County medical examiner ruled Lyne’s death a homicide but her exact date of death is unknown. The charging documents refer to her death as occurring April 8 or 9.
Charlton is also charged with theft of a motor vehicle for taking Lyne’s automobile, which was found in downtown Seattle on Monday night.
Lyne’s partial remains were found in a recycling bin Saturday afternoon in Seattle’s Central District. Investigators learned of a missing-persons report filed by her former husband with Renton Police earlier in the day.
Using photos on her driver’s license and from her Facebook page, investigators were able to tentatively identify Lyne. Charlton was arrested Monday at a former girlfriend’s house in Lake Stevens in Snohomish County.
The charging documents add some information to the Certification for Determination of Probable Cause released Tuesday and widely reported. That document gave an address in Seattle as Charlton’s last known address.
When he was interviewed by two detectives, Charlton seemed “nonchalant” and was annoyed they were asking questions about him when the “ostensible purpose” of the interview was to talk about Lyne’s disappearance. He met Lyne about a month ago on a dating site and had spent the night at her house previously, according to the charging documents.
He eventually invoked his right to an attorney and the questioning stopped.
The former girlfriend told detectives that Charlton arrived at her home about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. She’s known him for a year and described him as a “mean drunk,” according to charging documents. He never assaulted her.
He was supposed to come to her house on Saturday morning to help with yard work but texted her that “something had come up,” according to the documents.
She noticed the injuries to his face that detectives also observed during an interview on Monday with Charlton. Charlton told her he had been robbed in Seattle.
Monday night, crime scene investigators returned to Lyne’s home in the Highlands and removed the plumbing beneath the bathtub. They found blood and flesh.
