Renton murder suspect captured in Oregon motel
Mar 12, 2013, 11:44 AM | Updated: 7:42 pm
A multistate manhunt has been under way for Michael "Chadd" Boysen, 26, since the bodies of his grandparents were discovered. (Image courtesy King County Sheriff's Office)
(Image courtesy King County Sheriff's Office)
Police stormed into a motel room in this seaside town Tuesday evening and captured a Washington state man suspected of killing his grandparents, ending a multistate search and a tense daylong standoff at the motel.
Lincoln City Police and other law enforcement agencies surrounded the WestShore Oceanfront Suites on Tuesday, where they believe Michael “Chadd” Boysen, 26, barricaded himself inside a room.
After early negotiations with the man weren’t fruitful Tuesday, police used three blasts from a water cannon to break a window at the motel because “the guy had been quiet for too long,” said Lincoln City Police Chief Keith Kilian.
“There was a lack of activity going in there, so we did a strategic breach, which caused conversations to be continued,” Kilian said. “We weren’t progressing, so we stepped it up a little bit.”
A state police negotiator used a bullhorn to try to persuade the person inside the second-floor motel room to disarm and surrender. The voice on the loudspeaker said, “There’s a lot of people who want to see you come out OK.”
At one point police officers were seen going into an adjacent room. Earlier in the day, police had sent a small robot up some stairs and onto a balcony of the motel.
Rooms at the motel were quietly evacuated and surrounding streets were closed off. Nearby residents were told to remain in their homes, and a growing number of officers converged on the motel.
Boysen checked into the motel Monday night under his own name, but the name wasn’t recognized until Tuesday morning when a desk clerk saw a television story about the case and called the Lincoln City police, Kilian said.
A State Police negotiator used a bullhorn to talk to the man, but hadn’t made headway.
“He asked for us to leave, that’s about it,” Kilian said.
Officers haven’t seen the man display any weapons, he said.
Boysen is accused of killing his grandparents early Friday or late Saturday, less than a day after being released from a Washington State prison, where he served time on a robbery conviction.
Billie Reade, who works the front desk at the Sandcastle Hotel a few blocks from the scene, told KIRO Radio that police officers with automatic rifles were positioned on the beach.
Lincoln City Police Chief Keith Kilian said a night clerk at the hotel told police they recognized Boysen from a morning news report.
“She checked the hotel registration and thought, ‘My God, he checked in last night.'” he said.
Urquhart says Boysen’s grandparents picked him up after his release, hosted a party in his honor and offered him a room for the night. Their bodies were discovered by Boysen’s mother Saturday evening.
“I can’t stress how dangerous this guy is,” Sheriff Urquhart said at a news conference Monday.
The sheriff said Boysen had made threats against family members and law enforcement officials, but he did not elaborate.
“We have to catch him as soon as we can,” Urquhart said.
The sheriff said the grandparents were not shot, but he declined to provide other details about the murders, pending autopsy results.
Sherriff Urquhart said authorities do not believe Boysen had a gun when he left the crime scene, but was searching the Internet for “gun shows” across the Northwest and Nevada
Boysen had been in prison since 2006 on three robbery convictions in King County, said Judy Feliciano of the State Department of Corrections.
Urquhart told Dori Monson investigators still don’t have a motive in the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
