Sex predator admits raping, murdering Bellevue teen 34 years ago
Jun 26, 2014, 12:41 PM | Updated: Jun 27, 2014, 7:37 am
A sex predator now admits to the rape and strangulation murder of a Bellevue teenager 34 years ago. (KIRO Radio/Tim Haeck)
(KIRO Radio/Tim Haeck)
A sex predator now admits to the rape and strangulation murder of a Bellevue teenager 34 years ago.
When Michael Halgren was sent to the Special Commitment Center at McNeil Island in 2002, he submitted a DNA sample. A cold case detective in Bellevue eventually matched that sample to the 1980 killing of Susan Lowe.
It turns out Halgren, 58, raped several other women since the 1970s.
“He admitted to a string of serial rapes in Bellevue over the course of many years. He admitted to that when he was being evaluated under the sexually violent predator law,” explained senior deputy King County prosecutor Kristin Richardson.
Halgren was just days shy of his 24th birthday and lived just three blocks from Lowe at the time of the attack in April 1980. Lowe’s roommate was gone and she was alone watching a Seattle SuperSonics game on TV when Halgren burst into her apartment, according to Richardson.
Halgren was charged with first degree murder in 2013. He pleaded guilty Thursday to second degree murder. Richardson will recommend Halgren serve a minimum 13-1/2 years in prison.
“At that time, he becomes eligible for parole, that’s not to say he will be paroled. If he is paroled, he will go back to the Special Commitment Center,” said Richardson.
He said the murder of Lowe was the first case assigned when the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office opened a cold case unit in 2006.
