A Texas man convicted this year of killing a King County man in 1996 was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison.
A Texas man convicted this year of killing a King County man in 1996 was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison.
Myron Holdredge Jr., who is also known as Myron or Michael Wynn, was charged in 2009 with first-degree murder in the slaying of 66-year-old Robert Wykel, whose body has never been found.
Wykel’s relatives and friends said the conviction and sentence, though not as lengthy as they’d hoped, was a victory nonetheless.
“Kudos to the prosecutors and detectives,” said Wykel’s friend John Ogden after the hearing.
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King County Superior Court jurors deadlocked in Holdredge’s first trial last year, and Wykel’s family was afraid that was the end, Ogden said.
A second trial brought a conviction in April.
A distinctive diamond that once had belonged to Wykel was tied to Holdredge, according to charging documents.
Wykel, a retired sheet-metal worker and restaurant owner who supplemented his retirement income by restoring classic cars, disappeared in February 1996.
He had told friends he was going to check out a vintage Thunderbird, according to court documents, and had withdrawn $5,200 cash from his bank.
Wykel was last seen with Holdredge, and his car was found abandoned in a Burien park-and-ride lot.
Holdredge’s ex-girlfriend told investigators he had given her a necklace with an unusual diamond as a gift in 1996, the same year Wykel disappeared. Holdredge claimed he’d found the diamond in a parking lot.
When the two broke up, Holdredge took back the stone and sold it to his aunt, according to charging papers. Detectives recovered the 1.28-carat diamond worth $5,000 from Holdredge’s aunt.
Holdredge has maintained his innocence and plans to appeal.
At the sentencing hearing before King County Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead, he said, “I’m not going to sit here today and beg for forgiveness for something I didn’t do.”
Wykel’s daughter, Rebecca Lee, was unmoved.
She said detectives proved to her Holdredge killed her father, and watching the trials proved Holdredge was a liar.
“To me, he’s a sociopath,” Lee said. “He was found guilty, and he’s not going to do this to anyone else. In the end he still has to meet his maker, and isn’t that the final judge?”
Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com