A Washington state man faces murder and kidnapping charges in connection with the disappearance of a popular chiropractor and her husband, who authorities now believe were murdered.
Timothy Burke, 40, was arrested Friday on two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in connection with the disappearance of Karen Koep and her husband, Davido, The Daily Beast reported.
Burke, of Olympia, had apparently known the couple for “several years,” said Lt. Mike Brooks of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet.
Koep, 62, and Davido, 68, were first reported missing from their Lacey home on Monday.
The couple’s gray Toyota hatchback was initially missing from their home, but was later found on a street in Olympia.
Authorities now believe they were killed in the attack at the residence, the Sheriff’s Office wrote in a statement on Facebook early Saturday.
The tragic update was quickly flooded with social media comments from Koep’s former patients at his Lacey chiropractic clinic.
“I am very heartbroken. Karen isn’t just my chiro…she’s my friend,” one commenter lamented.
The couple is now believed to have been murdered, authorities said.NBC News
“Karen is a force. He helped me find solutions to my physical health when no one else would listen,” added another.
Koep’s sister, Pauline Dutton, told the Daily Beast that Burke was staying at the couple’s boarding house and was detained by police for 24 hours shortly after they disappeared.
On Saturday, he told the outlet that Burke apparently swiped Koep and Davido’s credit cards and “took about 80 dollars.”
“I hope it’s worth it,” he said.
“We still don’t know what the motive was, but I know there have been many arguments over the years with tenants.”
Burke is said to have moved into Koep’s boarding house the summer after a fire forced him out of the barn he was living in in Oregon, Dutton claimed.
He did construction work in exchange for rent, he said.
Koep is a popular chiropractor in Lacey, Washington. NBC News
In the GoFundMe, Burke claims that an arsonist has targeted her past property.
Speaking to The Post earlier this week, Dutton said he feared Davido’s criminal past may have played a role in the couple’s disappearance.
Davido – who legally changed his name to a single name in the 1990s – has a record including a charge of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, public records show.
He spent six years in prison, and spent the last few years helping those who had fallen on hard times, Dutton told The Daily Beast.
“My brother-in-law gave many people a second chance in life. That might end up costing them,” he told the outlet hours before learning that his sister and brother-in-law were likely to die.
“I hate this guy,” Dutton said of Burke.
“I hate him, but I forgive him because I am a woman of God. [But] I only forgive him because of my faith. It’s not what I think he deserves, by any means.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
