Seattle Police detectives believe the human remains found Monday morning at a recycling center in south Seattle are those of Ingrid Maree Lyne of Renton, who died on April 8 or 9.
It’s the second discovery of what are likely the additional remains of the 40-year-old, single mother of three daughters whose death was ruled a homicide last week by the county medical examiner.
Last Friday a sanitation crew found remains in a container on South 20th Street in Seattle’s Central District east of downtown Seattle, not far from where Lyne’s dismembered remains were initially found April 9 in a recycling container.
The county medical examiner positively identified Lyne’s remains on April 13 but was unable to pinpoint the exact date of her death. She died of homicidal violence.
Family, friends and the community at large gathered April 12 at a vigil at St. Matthew’s Church in the Renton Highlands to remember Lyne. A gofundme account set up to help her daughters has so far raised about $232,000.
John Robert Charlton, who met Lyne on an online dating service, was charged April 13 with first-degree murder by county prosecutors. He was arrested April 11 at a former girlfriend’s house in Lake Stevens in Snohomish County.
He’s being held on $2 million bail in the King County Jail in downtown Seattle. His arraignment is 8:30 a.m. April 27 in courtroom 1201 of the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
Charlton is also charged with theft of a motor vehicle for taking Lyne’s automobile, which was found in downtown Seattle the night of April 11.
If convicted, Charlton faces a sentencing range of at least 21 years to nearly 28 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
“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 when the charges were announced. “We may never understand why she was killed.”
Some have wondered why the sentence isn’t life in prison, which is the sentence spelled out in state statutes for first-degree murder. Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the King County Prosecutor’s Office, explained that life in prison or the death penalty requires aggravated circumstances, such as multiple victims.
The range is based on the state’s sentencing reforms of the early 1980s that dealt with felonies and juvenile guidelines.
However, prosecutors are continuing to investigate any felonies for which Charlton was convicted in other states to determine whether those criminal convictions are comparable to Washington state’s, he said.
“Certainly that range could go up, based on past criminal convictions,” he said. Prosecutors will present that information to the court.
A judge also could consider an “exceptional sentence,” he said.