Craigslist killing, robbery cases related, police say

LAKE STEVENS — The same people who are being prosecuted for a Craigslist killing in Pierce County last spring likely were behind a home-invasion robbery in Lake Stevens just days before.

On April 25, 2010, two men went to a Lake Stevens home under the guise of buying a flat-screen TV listed on Craigslist, a free classifieds website.

The men threatened the family with guns. They tied up a man and his wife. They then called more people, who helped them ransack the home. They left with more than $30,000 in stolen goods.

A few days later, Lake Stevens police released sketches of the suspects to media and police around the region, Police Chief Randy Celori said.

That night, they got a call from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, he said.

Four people had targeted a family in the city of Edgewood, near Tacoma. They pretended to be interested in a diamond ring listed on Craigslist. One victim, Jim Sanders, 43, was fatally shot while defending his family from the attack.

Lake Stevens police helped Pierce County investigators catch the suspects, Celori said. Their sketches played a key role.

Last month, the first defendant in the case was convicted of murder, burglary, robbery and assault.

Kiyoshi Higashi, 23, was sentenced in Pierce County Superior Court <a href="http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110312/NEWS03/703129961

“>to 124 years in prison. His co-defendants’ cases are in Pierce County courts.

The Lake Stevens case has been forwarded to Snohomish County prosecutors, Celori said. It names as suspects several of the same people as the Pierce County case.

Lake Stevens police are recommending first-degree robbery charges, Celori said.

Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow is working with Pierce County prosecutors to decide what’s next, he said Thursday. He has been reviewing the Pierce County case files.

Darrow expects to file charges in the Lake Stevens case. The charges filed, and against whom, may depend on what happens with the Pierce County prosecutions, he said.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.