Man charged in brutal Lake Stevens murder, ordered held without bail

A Spokane man was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the brutal stabbing death of 20-year-old Phillipa S. Evans-Lopez, who was found dead at her Lake Stevens home on June 17.

Anthony E. Garver, 25, was ordered held without bail after an unusually lengthy hearing in Snohomish County District Court.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Hunter convinced Judge Roger Fisher to deny Garver bail, citing a Washington state statute enacted after the shooting deaths of four Lakewood police officers in 2009. The suspect in those murders, Maurice Clemmons, killed the officers a week after he posted bail in an unrelated case.

RCW 10.21.040 allows for a defendant to be held without bail if “the judicial officer finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that a person shows a propensity for violence that creates a substantial likelihood of danger to the community or any persons, and finds that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community.”

Hunter said the law was enacted to keep people like Garver behind bars and pointed to information from federal officials that he is an anti-government extremist who made threats to blow up a government building in Spokane. In court, Hunter described Garver as a violent felon who was known to possess military-style weapons and idolized Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, and studied Al-Qaeda training materials.

At the time of his arrest, Garver was wanted by the U.S. Marshal’s Office on a felony warrant for escape.

“I believe he presents an extreme risk to the community,” Hunter said.

Garver’s defense attorney asked the court to grant him bail and criticized information about his past presented in court as having “no factual basis.”

During the hearing, Garver could be seen smiling and tried multiple times to address the court before his defense attorney muted his microphone.

“The claim to want to be like Timothy McVeigh, the collection of bomb-making materials is scary to say the least,” Judge Fisher said. “There is no reason that I can do anything but maintain the no bail hold.”

Evans-Lopez was found stabbed to death in a home at 9225 15th St. SE on June 17. According to court documents, her hands and feet were bound to a bed with electrical cords.

Prosecutors said video surveillance placed Garver with Evans-Lopez at a McDonald’s restaurant in Lake Stevens three days before her body was discovered. A forensic scientist with the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab matched DNA taken from a cord tied to the victim’s left wrist to Garver and a detective found a knife stained with human blood in his pocket upon arrest.