EVERETT — A Snohomish County judge issued a $15 million warrant Wednesday for murder suspect Anthony Garver after prosecutors were told that Garver, who escaped from a state psychiatric hospital last year, could be hours away from being released by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Matt Hunter refiled the first-degree murder charge against Garver in the 2013 stabbing death of a young Lake Stevens woman. The case had been dismissed after state doctors concluded that Garver was too mentally ill to assist with his own defense.
Garver, 29, was civilly committed to Western State Hospital in Lakewood, but in April he and another inmate escaped. They’d spent months loosening a window frame on their ground-floor room. It took hours for hospital staff to report the escape to police.
Garver hopped a bus to Spokane, leading police on a two-day manhunt. He was tracked to some woods near his mother’s home.
His escape brought even more scrutiny to the state hospital, which already was facing federal sanctions for failing to admit mentally ill inmates in a timely manner. The hospital also has been at risk to lose federal funding because of safety concerns. Gov. Jay Inslee fired the head of the hospital following Garver’s escape and ordered an evaluation of security.
In December, Garver was sentenced to two years behind bars for violating his federal probation. He has been held at the Spokane County Jail.
At the time of the 2013 Lake Stevens killing, Garver was wanted for failing to check in with his probation officer. He has past convictions for illegally possessing ammunition and threatening to blow up a judge and federal buildings.
Word reached Hunter Wednesday that Garver could be released.
“The Federal Bureau of Prisons believes the Defendant is entitled to credit against his two-year federal sanction for time spent in the Snohomish County Jail and WSH pursuant to” the murder case, Hunter wrote. “If that is correct, the Defendant is subject to release in the immediate future (perhaps today).”
Hunter asked for a no-bail warrant to hold Garver, saying “the Defendant has historically demonstrated a grave danger to commit violent acts. He has also demonstrated a willingness and ability to escape confinement.”
Superior Court Anita Farris issued a $15 million warrant. Garver is expected to be moved to the Snohomish County Jail.
Hunter wrote that he refiled the murder charged based on last month’s competency proceedings in the probation case.
A U.S. District Court judge relied on the findings of mental health evaluation and reports from a treatment team at Western, according to charging papers.
Garver told the team two months before his escape that his mental conditions would not prevent him from functioning adequately outside the hospital walls, “yet he still complained that his ‘severe psychosis’ would likely impair his ability to assist with his defense should criminal charges ever be refiled,” Hunter wrote.
A doctor concluded that Garver exaggerates his psychotic symptoms and feigns memory impairment. The federal judge, in his findings in the probation case, wrote that Garver “is malingering, at least in part to avoid prosecution,” court papers said.
The mutilated body of Phillipa S. Evans-Lopez was found June 17, 2013. The 20-year-old mother had been tied up and stabbed two dozen times. The killer also had cut her throat.
Detectives say Garver is linked to the killing through genetic evidence found on electrical cords that were used to bind Evans-Lopez.
Garver and Evans-Lopez were strangers, according to court papers. Surveillance video from an Everett restaurant shows them talking a few days before her body was discovered.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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