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 have been 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, apparently knew the couple for “several years,” Lt. Mike Brooks of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet.
Koep, 62, and Davido, 68, were first reported missing from their home in Lacey on Monday.
The couple’s gray Toyota hatchback was initially missing from their home, but was later found on the street in Olympia.
Authorities now believe they were killed in an attack on the residence, the Sheriff’s Office wrote in a statement on Facebook early Saturday.
The tragic update was quickly inundated with comments on social media from former patients of Koep at his Lacey chiropractic clinic.
“I’m so heartbroken. “Karen wasn’t just my chiro… she was my friend,” one commenter lamented.
The couple is now believed to have been murdered, authorities said.NBC News
“Karen was a force. “She helped me find solutions for my physical health when no one else would listen,” another added.
Koep’s sister, Pauline Dutton, told the Daily Beast that Burke lived in the couple’s boarding house and was detained by police for 24 hours shortly after he disappeared.
On Saturday, he told the outlet that Burke appeared to have stolen a credit card from Koep and Davido and “took about $80.”
“I hope it was worth it,” he said.
“We still don’t know what the reason was, but I know there were a lot of discussions over the years with the tenants.”
Burke allegedly moved into Koep’s boarding house over the summer after a fire forced him to move out of the shed he had been living in in Oregon, Dutton claimed.
He did construction work for rent, he said.
Koep was a popular chiropractor in Lacey, Washington. NBC News
On GoFundMe, Burke claimed that an arsonist had targeted his previous property.
Speaking to The Post earlier this week, Dutton said he was concerned that Davido’s criminal past may have played a role in the couple’s disappearance.
Davido, who legally changed his name to a unique nickname in the 1990s, had a record that included charges of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, public records showed.
He spent six years in total behind bars and spent the last few years helping those going through equally difficult times, Dutton told The Daily Beast.
“My brother-in-law was giving a lot of people second chances in life. That may now end up being to their detriment,” she told the outlet a few hours before learning that her sister and her brother-in-law were likely dead.
“I hate this man,” Dutton said of Burke.
“I hate him, but I do 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: vtt.edu.vn