CRIME BLOTTER

No tampering from defense team found in case of Fall City mass shooting

Dec 3, 2024, 11:26 AM

Photo: Deputies investigate a Fall City mass shooting....

Deputies investigate the Fall City mass shooting. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)

(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)

No misconduct was committed by the defense in the case of a teenage boy accused of killing five family members in a Fall City home earlier this year, a judge ruled.

Allegations of evidence tampering were made after prosecutors with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) claimed there was “evidence that the defense’s search exceeded beyond what was permitted.” KCPAO accused the defense investigation of moving items within the crime scene that they weren’t supposed to touch, entering a room they weren’t allowed in, moving items while in that room and removing one item from the crime scene entirely.

The court documents filed were obtained by KIRO Newsradio and MyNorthwest from independent journalist Steve Hickey, also known as PhotogSteve81 on social media.

The Fall City murders

On Oct. 21 at approximately 5 a.m., five members of the Humiston family — Mark, 43, and Sarah Humiston, 42, and three of their children, Benjamin, 13, Joshua, 9, and Katheryn, 7 — were murdered in their home in Fall City. Law enforcement from all over the region responded to the mass shooting. When deputies arrived at the home, they found the victims shot to death.

More on the Fall City shooting: 5 killed, including 3 juveniles, in mass shooting at Fall City home

“Very, very sad,” King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall told KIRO Newsradio in a press conference near the scene of the crime. “Very disturbed. I know that my team will do an excellent job in investigating this and we will determine the facts related to this incident.”

The suspect, a 15-year-old boy, was identified as one of Mark and Sarah Humiston’s children and a sibling of the three children killed. He has since been charged with five counts of aggravated murder in the first degree and one count of attempted murder in the first degree, according to KCPAO.

A fourth child, the suspect’s 11-year-old sister, was shot during the mass shooting within the home, but was able to get away. She was previously released from the hospital and is expected to live.

The teen suspect is currently in secure detention at the Patricia H. Clarke Children and Family Justice Center in Seattle. Judge Kristin Richardson ordered that the suspect not to be photographed, videotaped or recorded above the shoulders and his face not to appear on TV. Richardson also ordered for his name not to be revealed, as of this reporting.

Defense counsel also alleged that the King County Sheriff’s Office went outside the scope of their documentation of the home, alleging they altered or modified certain parts of the residence. Counsel asked to find intentional misconduct on the part of the state, which the judge also declined to do.

The ensuing investigation

Five days after the shooting, defense attorneys for the teen suspect filed a motion to preserve evidence after learning the suspect’s maternal grandmother, Ms. Ogden, the current trustee of the residence, was not allowing the defense team back in the home where the murders happened. She also had hired a cleaning crew to come into the home.

“Here, it is that the critical defense has full access to the crime scene,” the defense’s motion stated in obtained court documents. “If the home is cleaned and items are destroyed before defense can access it, evidence will be lost and defense will have no means of obtaining that evidence in the future.”

The defense team was able to enter the home before the property was released back to Ogden on Oct. 24, but wanted more time with the crime scene. The defense team claimed they were only allowed in the house for one hour.

The defense team was able to return to the crime scene on Oct. 29, accompanied by the King County Sheriff’s Office, which digitally documented the residence before the defense team was given access to the home, according to KING 5.

The document filed by Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jason Brookhyser with KCPAO on Nov. 4, also obtained by independent journalist Steve Hickey, claimed multiple items throughout the house were moved, and that the defense team exceeded what was permitted.

Docs: Fall City murder suspect’s previous defense team accused of violating court order

Specifically, multiple children’s backpacks were moved slightly, and a pair of shoes that were not placed in any particular order under a bench was later arranged under the bench. The pair of shoes included one that was originally found outside the home. A bottle of Clorox wipes went missing, and multiple items were “moved and manipulated” in the bedroom of the family’s lone survivor of the mass shooting, the 11-year-old girl. The defense team was barred from entering that room, according to the court documents.

“From (the) KCSO’s documentation of the residence before and after defense’s search, it is clear that defense counsel and their agents exceeded the permitted scope of their search under the court’s order,” the prosecutors’ Nov. 4 document read. “Examples of these potential violations include defense handling and moving items in the front entryway, as well as the girls’ and boys’ room to observe what was not in plain view.”

In response, the defense team claimed it was actually the King County Sheriff’s Office that moved or altered objects within the crime scene.

Details on the judge’s ruling

Due to the fact that the crime scene was turned over to a family member while ensuing investigative searches were happening, the judge ruled that none of the allegations from either party had merit, meaning no misconduct was committed.

The judge also stated it was unlikely that any forensics gathered during the defense’s investigation would have merit in court due to the tampered crime scene of the Fall City shooting.

“A myriad of people had gone through there, a myriad of people have touched who knows what,” Judge Galvan said, according to KING 5.

Contributing: Steve Coogan, MyNothwest

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.

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