Father of Tacoma murder victim lost daughter to heroin first

The father of a murder victim is speaking out about what took his daughter from this world. And the tragic Tacoma murder that occurred on Jan. 4 is not exactly when his family lost her.

“We grieved the loss of Theresa’s soul three years ago when she got into these drugs,” Warren Clements told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson on Thursday. “Now we’re grieving the physical loss.”

Clement said that his step-daughter Theresa Greenhalgh started taking drugs about three years ago. She was 31 when the gruesome murder happened. KIRO 7 reports she was a mother of three.

Related: Gruesome, violent Tacoma murder leads to arson

Matthew Ryan Leupold, 32, of Olympia has been charged in Pierce County Superior Court with two counts of aggravated murder and first-degree arson. He is accused of killing Greenhalgh and 22-year-old Mary Buras with a hammer in a Tacoma home on Jan. 4. After killing the women he allegedly decapitated them both in the home — court documents say one of the women may have still been alive during the decapitation. Leupold then allegedly set fire to the home two days later in an attempt to destroy evidence. His sister, Lindsey Marie Leupold, 36, is accused of rendering criminal assistance after the Tacoma murder. She has pleaded not guilty to the charge, according to KIRO 7. Lindsey’s bail has been set at $500,000. Her 15-year-old son has also reportedly been charged in relation to the crime.

Leupold reportedly told investigators that the two victims, his sister, himself and the juvenile were consuming drugs in the home on the evening of the murder. When he started hearing voices in his head, telling him to “kill her,” he allegedly carried out the murders.

The entire ordeal has been difficult for Greenhalgh’s family. Clements said that he has been preparing himself for this type of call from law enforcement ever since his daughter started taking drugs.

“The person isn’t going to get help unless they really, really want help,” Clements said about his daughter and her addiction. “As a parent, you prepare yourself for that phone call in the middle of the night. It was always the thought that they would find her overdosed or in a car wreck. Something like that. But never something to this magnitude, this violent act that happened to her.”

“I just talked with a co-worker who is in a similar situation,” he said. “This opioid addiction that is out there, it’s so frustrating as a parent to see our kid go through this.”

Tacoma murder case

Clements has been working close with investigators and prosecutors in the case. The Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office has noted that the case has the potential of a death-penalty sentence.

“Before I make a decision on the death penalty, we will gather as much information as possible about the defendant, the victims, and the surrounding circumstances,” said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “We always want to make the right decisions for the right reasons.”

Leupold has yet to go through any trial. Clements, however, expressed his feeling on what should happen to the person who murdered his daughter. He favors the death penalty.

“As a dad, I hope that the process does go in that direction,” Clements said. “As a dad, you bet. I really want to see the death penalty for this guy. As our laws are written, I encouraged the detectives and the prosecutor’s office to do everything. I said I didn’t want them to miss an ‘i’ being dotted, or a ‘t’ being crossed that won’t allow that to happen.”

Leupold is a seven-time convicted felon and was released from prison shortly before the murders. It left Clements curious as to why he was not locked up given the state’s three-strike rule. The three-strike law was passed in 1993 and essentially states that a person convicted of three serious felonies will be sentenced to life in prison without parole. But it turns out that only certain felonies are eligible for the three-strike rule, and many of Leupold’s convictions didn’t qualify. His most recent felony conviction was for firearms-related charges.

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