THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. — A suspect arrested for murder in connection to the disappearance of a Thurston County couple was in the process of being evicted by the couple, according to court documents released Monday.
Dr. Karen Koep and Davido were last seen on Nov. 13. Deputies went to their home in the Lake Forest Development and found the couple was missing.
The suspect, an Olympian man in his 40s, first appeared in court on Monday afternoon. He will be held in jail without bail because prosecutors argued he is a flight risk and a danger to the community. A spokesperson for the victim's family said Monday they were satisfied with the judge's ruling not to let the suspect bail out of jail.
Court documents released Monday indicated the suspect was in the process of being evicted by the couple before they were reported missing. He lived on property near Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Searchers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Officials said on Friday that due to the investigation so far, "we do not believe the couple survived the attack at their residence."
According to court documents, deputies found two large blood stains and an "overwhelming smell of bleach," indicating someone tried to clean up the blood. The deputies responding to the couple's home said the amount of blood found in the home was "beyond what a human could survive," court documents detailed.
Investigators learned that Koep's car was not in the garage. They did find blood spatter in the garage.
Neighbors told deputies they heard gunshots on Friday or Saturday night around 8-9 p.m. The neighbor's report matched the possible bullet holes found in the wall and in the living room, according to court documents.
Davido's debit card was used on Nov. 12 - the day before the couple went missing - at two credit unions in Washington state.
Officials initially arrested the suspect for identity theft, but he was released on Nov. 14 because there was not enough cause to connect him to the couple's suspected murder at the time.
On the day of the couple's disappearance, investigators found Koep's car just after 9 p.m. Detectives believed it arrived at the location between 3-9 p.m. Officials said in court documents there was red staining in her car that tested positive for blood and a case that had five fired .45 caliber shell casings inside.
Officials sent a pistol they recovered from the suspect and the five fired .45 caliber shell casings to a crime lab for testing. According to court documents, the results indicated that the cartridges found in Koep's vehicle matched the suspect's registered firearm.
The suspect was arrested on Nov. 17, four days after the couple's disappearance. Deputies said he was found hiding from law enforcement off the side of a trail. He was booked into Thurston County Jail on two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.
"They were so selfless and giving to everybody, and I can tell that everybody here's been touched in a deep way," one of the couple's sons said at a candlelight vigil on Sunday afternoon. "My dad loved my mother so much."
Searchers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord were searching for the couple's remains in the woods on Monday.