Husband arrested, charged in 2006 murder of Lynnwood woman

The husband of a Lynnwood woman who was found strangled in
a wooded area near Burien in 2006 has been arrested for
her murder after a “long and thorough investigation,” the
King County Sherriff’s Office has announced.

Detectives took Martin David Pietz into custody outside
his place of employment in the 200 block of
Kirkland Ave. Wednesday. He was booked into King
County Jail where he is being held on $1 million bail. He
was subsequently charged with second-degree murder.

His wife, 32-year-old Nicole Pietz, was reported missing
by her husband on Jan. 29, 2006 after she failed to show
up for a dinner with friends and her job at a wireless
store in Bothell. Her body was found nearly two weeks
later by a passerby near 1010 South 144th
St.

The case has remained a top priority for the King County
Sheriff’s Office since her disappearance.

“I’m on such a high that the detectives have persevered
and finally arrested this monster, and that there will be
some justice for my daughter,” said Nicole’s mother, Gael
Schneider. “(Detectives) understood a mother’s love and
the heartbreak it caused our family.”

Chief Criminal Deputy Steve Strachan said Wednesday that
they have a strong circumstantial case against David
Pietz.

“As six years have gone by, the suspect in this incident
may have started to think that he was going to get away
with this one,” he said. “Family and friends of Nicole
have not forgotten and neither have we.”

According to court documents, investigators believe Pietz
beat and eventually strangled his wife to death inside
their condo sometime between the night of Jan. 27, 2006
and early in the morning on Jan. 28. Investigators
believe he then dumped her naked body in the wooded area,
before filing an official missing persons report with the
Snohomish County Sherriff’s Office on Jan. 29.

Pietz is believed to have made a call from his wife’s cell
phone to his place of employment on Saturday, Jan. 28,
according to the documents. Investigators determined the
call originated from a four-block radius around Pietz’s
place of business during a time period when Pietz was
observed by surveillance cameras as having left his desk.

Investigators also noted that Pietz failed a polygraph
test about his involvement in his wife’s murder and
refused an opportunity to take the exam again.

According to witnesses, the couple’s marriage had been in
turmoil and Pietz had cheated on his wife in the past.
Searches of their computer history included queries about
“swingers” clubs and advice on how to have an affair,
according to court documents.