The man was found wrapped in a comforter and tarp with his ankles and wrists bound, according to the King County Sheriff's Office.
A husband and wife have been arrested in connection with the death of a 67-year-old man found dead on his Renton property September 20.
Two handymen found the victim and called 911 around 7:15 p.m. the same day. The King County Sheriff’s Office said the man died by homicidal violence.
With the arrest of two suspects, the Sheriff’s Office is now offering more details about what authorities think happened.
Detectives think the male suspect knocked on the victim’s door the day before his body was discovered and when he answered, pepper sprayed the victim and struck him in the head with an object, killing him by blunt-force trauma, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Wednesday.
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The body was found in a detached shed on his property in the 16700 block of 196th Avenue Southeast in unincorporated Renton. His body was wrapped in a comforter and tarp with his ankles and wrists bound, the Sheriff’s Office said.
“There was what appeared to be a newly dug hole in the ground at the bottom of the steps of the back deck,” according to the news release. “This hole looked to detectives like a grave.”
At some point after the victim died, detectives believe the male suspect took the victim’s vehicle and drove it to his Tacoma home.
Once word spread that the office was investigating the man’s death, the couple “torched” the vehicle, according to the release.
Detectives do not think the woman suspect was present when the victim was killed, but they think she later participated in stealing property from the victim’s home and arson of the vehicle, said King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ryan Abbott.
On Wednesday detectives searched the suspects’ home and found property belonging to the victim.
According to Abbott, the male suspect, 39, was being booked Wednesday evening on investigation of murder, residential burglary and arson, and the woman, 37, had been booked on investigation of rendering criminal assistance, residential burglary and arson.