MARYSVILLE — Rhonda Howton and her next-door neighbor chatted over the fence countless times.
Howton was shocked Monday afternoon after learning that her neighbor, a 73-year-old woman, was found dead inside her home that morning.
“It’s unreal. It’s scary,” she said. “So undeserving to end your life so tragically.”
Medics were called to the house in the 7100 block of 70th Avenue NE around 10:45 a.m. A family member who hadn’t heard from the woman over the weekend came by to check on her and made the grim discovery, Marysville police Cmdr. Robb Lamoureux said.
The woman was a victim of violence, he said. Detectives do not believe it was a random act.
It was the second homicide in Marysville involving a woman in her 70s in less than a week. The cases are unrelated and the community is not at risk, Lamoureux said.
He called the deaths a “strange coincidence.”
Detectives on Monday evening did not release details about how the woman died.
“It is still too early in the investigation,” Lamoureux said. “We are trying to put those pieces together.”
No arrests were made. “We have people we want to talk to, but we are not calling them suspects,” Lamoureux said.
Police were looking for a red 1998 Buick Century in connection with the case. They learned Monday evening that the car was spotted in Butte, Mont., early Sunday.
The woman lived alone, Lamoureux said. She was last seen on Friday afternoon, he said. Neighbors said the woman’s adult granddaughter spent a lot of time at the house. Investigators do not believe she was involved, Lamoureux said.
Police had been called to the house several times in the past, Lamoureux said. He couldn’t provide any details Monday.
Howton didn’t find it unusual that her neighbor’s house stood quiet this weekend. The woman would sometimes be gone on weekends visiting her sister, Howton said.
Howton described her neighbor as “really bubbly and outgoing” and an avid gardener.
Howton and her husband often helped the woman with her yard. “If you did something for her, she was so, so thankful,” she said.
A basket of goodies would often show up on the Howtons’ front porch after they had helped their neighbor with a chore.
Last week, Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives investigated the stabbing death of Shirley Freeman, in her 70s, in unincorporated Marysville. That happened less than 4 miles away.
Paul R. Williams, 33, was arrested. He’s now behind bars at the Snohomish County Jail and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail for investigation of first-degree murder.
Williams’ mother called police on June 2 after he allegedly told her he’d killed her neighbor. Deputies arrested him in his mother’s driveway.
The Arlington man, who suffers from a mental illness, told police he had been planning to kill Freeman for days.
Lamoureux said there is no evidence to suggest a connection between the killings, or that Monday’s discovery hints at a risk for others.
“We don’t feel there should be any concern for the neighbors,” Lamoureux said.
Mike McCormick, 41, on Monday afternoon saw the police cars across the street and went to find out what was going on in his neighborhood. He didn’t know the slain woman.
“You see this on the news all the time; you just don’t expect this down the street,” he said. “Who would do this to an old person? Who does this, period?”
Howton watched from her home as the detectives gathered evidence.
“She’ll be missed,” Howton said of her neighbor. “She deserved to live out the rest of her life comfortably.”
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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